vy  jv\V 


\\\E  UN1VER 


TRAVELS    IN    AMERICA. 


"  There  is  a  people  who  will  one  day  be  very  great :— I  mean  the  Ameri- 
cans. One  stain  only  obscures  the  perfect  splendour  of  reason  which 
vivifies  that  country— slavery  still  subsists  in  the  southern  provinces  ; 
but  when  the  Congress  shall  have  found  a  remedy  for  that  evil,  how  shall 
we  be  able  to  refuse  the  most  profound  respect  to  the  institutions  of  the 

United  States  ?  " 

MADAME  UK  STACL. 


TO 

BENJAMIN  SILLIMAN  ESQUIRE 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHEMISTRY  AND    NATURAL    HISTORY 
IN  YALE  COLLEGE 

&C.   &K.   &C. 

t  THE  FOLLOWING  PAGES 

ARE 

AFFECTIONATELY  AND  VERY  RESPECTFULLY 
INSCRIBED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


786350 


PREFACE. 


So  much  has  been  written  within  these  few  years 
respecting  North  America,  that  it  may  not  be  un- 
necessary, in  introducing  the  succeeding  pages  to 
the  reader's  notice,  to  state  the  grounds  on  which 
the  author  ventures  to  solicit  for  them  a  favourable 
reception. 

In  the  numerous  works  which  have  been  pub- 
lished, both  on  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
comparatively  little  has  been  said  as  to  the  moral 
condition  of  the  inhabitants,  their  literary  and  re- 
ligious characteristics ; — on  these,  certainly  the 
most  important  features  in  the  American  character, 
the  writer  is  persuaded  that  much  misapprehen- 
sion prevails  in  his  native  country,  and  he  would 


viii  PREFACE. 

gladly  be  instrumental  in  removing  a  part  of  it. 
He  does  not  indeed  pretend  to  have  given  any  of 
these  subjects  a  systematic  discussion;  but  they 
have  been  steadily  kept  in  view  as  particularly 
deserving  of  attention,  and  he  hopes  that  he  has 
succeeded  in  bringing  together  a  good  deal  of 
information,  on  matters  of  permanent  interest  and 
importance,  without  altogether  excluding  topics 
of  a  lighter  kind,  on  which  a  traveller  is  generally 
permitted  to  be  somewhat  loquacious. 

It  may  be  asked,  why  so  long  an  interval  has 
been  allowed  to  elapse,  between  the  date  of  the 
travels  and  the  period  of  their  publication?  He 
can  only  reply  that  the  resolution  to  publish,  was 
formed  and  abandoned  oftener  than  once;  arid 
after  the  composition  was  begun,  various  inter- 
ruptions occurred  to  retard  its  progress.  He  is 
persuaded,  however,  that  the  work  has  suffered 
nothing  from  this  delay;  on  the  contrary,  that 
however  defective  it  may  now  be,  it  would  have 
been  still  more  so,  had  the  compilation  been 
completed  any  considerable  time  sooner. 
' 


PREFACE.  ix 

The  interesting  author  of  the  *  Diary  of  an 
Invalid,'  remarks,  that  "no  one  but  he  who  has 
tried  the  experiment,  knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  be 
accurate ; — a  book  of  travels  must  always  be  more 
or  less  a  volume  of  inaccuracies."  Perfectly  as- 
sured, from  his  own  experience,  of  the  truth  of 
these  positions;  the  author  bespeaks  the  indul- 
gence of  the  reader,  both  to  the  materials  of  his 
book,  and  to  its  execution.  On  matters  of  opinion, 
he  must  expect  that  many  will  think  him  in  error; 
on  those  of  fact  and  observation,  he  trusts,  that, 
although  he  may  have  sometimes  gone  wrong,  he 
will  not  in  general  be  found  unworthy  of  con- 
fidence. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  GLASGOW, 
October  25th,  1823. 


ASGOW,  "1 
1'  ) 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME     FIRST. 


PACE 

VOYAGE      .             ....            .  1 

Azores — St.  Michael's                ...  5 

Peak  of  Pico     .....  6 

Fayal    ......  7 

Salubrity  of  the  climate              ...  9 

Popish  ceremonies — Nunnery    .             .             .  10—12 

Villa  Orta— Natives       .             .             .             .  13—15 

Birth  day  dinner             ....  16 

Gulf  stream       ....             .  21 

Sandy  Hook— Pilot  boat            ...  22 

NEW  YORK 

Custom  House  Regulations       ...  23 

Local  Advantages         .            .            .            .  24 — 26 

Streets               .....  27 

City  Hall— Public  Buildings    .             .             .  29—31 

State  of  architecture,  Note         ...  31 

Park — Bowling  Green — Battery — Bay               .  32 — 34 

Brooklyn— Navy  Yard— Steam  Frigate              .  31     11 
5 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


BOSTON  PAGE 

Mall — State  House        .             .             .             .  45 — 46 

Celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July            .              .  47 
Anniversary  Oration      .              .              .             .  •       49 — 56 

Seventy-four  gun  Ship                 ...  57 

Procession  of  free  Blacks            .    -         .              .  59 

Lunatic  Hospital           .             .             .             .  61 

State  Prison,  or  Penitentiary     .             .             .  63 — 68 

Remarks  on  the  system              .             .             .  68 — 72 
Observations   on    Prison   Discipline,    from  the 

North  American  Review,  Note               .  72 

Harvard  University        ....  74—83 

North  American  Review             .     '         .             .  ib. 

Anatomical  Models  in  wax         .             .             .  ib. 

Athenaeum        .....  84 

Honourable  act  of  Benevolence              .             .  85 

State  of  Religion — Churches — Sabbath  Schools  87 — 89 

Hot  weather — Frog  concert        .             .  ib. 

Fireflies             ....             .  90 

NEW  HAVEN 

Appearance  of  a  New  England  Town                 .  93 

New  Haven— streets- — surrounding  scenery        .  95 

Anecdotes  of  the  regicides  of  Charles  I.               .  96 

Their  graves  •     .                          .             .             .  99 

Old  and  new  burying  grounds               .             .  100 — 104 

A  funeral          .....  104 

New  England  character — A  Yankee      .             .  106 — 107 

Their  fondness  for  Scotish  novels  and  poems       .  108 
Education  —  District    Schools  —  Connecticut 

School  Fund       ....  109 

Grammar  School            .             .             .             .  Ill 

Religion—Churches       ...             .  112—113 

Ecclesiastical  system      ....  114 — 116 

Anecdote  of  Cromwell,  Note      .             .             .  114 
Unusual  observance  of  the  Sabbath         .             .11 7 — 1 1 9 

Sermons— Sabbath  Schools         .             .  120—122 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGE 

YALE  COLLEGE               ....  125 

History               .....  126 

Faculty — Professor  Fisher,  Note  .  .  128 
Terms  of  admission  .  .  .  .  130 
Course  of  study  .  .  .  .  133 — 133 
Remarks  .....  136 
Examinations  .....  137 
'  Commencement'  ....  139 
Degrees  .....  141 
Medical  department  ....  141 — 142 
Academical  discipline  ....  142 — 146 
Expense  of  education  ....  147 
Literary  Societies  .  .  .  .  148 
Library — Philosophical  Apparatus — Minerals  .  148 — 150 
Revenue  of  the  College  .  .  .  151 
American  and  Scotish  University  education  com- 
pared .....  153—164 
Cheapness  of  education  in  Scotland — '  Dominie 

Sampson'  .  .  .-  .160—163 

Prevalent  desire  for  education — Anecdote,  Note  161 

'  Commemoration'  at  Oxford     .             .             .  165 

'R1NCETON 

Princeton  College          .  .  .  .     169 171 

University  of  Virginia                 .  172 

Presbyterian  Theological  Academy         .  .      173 178 

Andover  Theological  Academy                .              .  178 

Cornwall  Foreign  Mission  School                         .  179 

'HILADELPHIA 

Situation  and  appearance  .  185 187 

Penn's  Treaty,  Note      ...  ib. 

Streets  188 

Public  Buildings             .  jg0 

Water  Works    ...  J91 

Penitentiary — New  buildings,  Note        .  193 

Pennsylvania  Hospital — West's  painting             .  194 
VOL.  I.                                      b 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PHILADELPHIA  continued. 

Peale's  Museum— Skeleton  of  the  Mammoth 

Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts 

Historical  painters,  Note 

Libraries — Literature    .... 

Printing  Offices — Columbian  Press 

Republication  of  British  Works 

Engraving — Bank  Notes 

University  of  Pennsylvania          .  » 

Quakers — Meeting  house — Burying  ground 

Quaker  worship — Religious  sentiments 

Churches  ...  . 

Sermons  .        "   . 

Sabbath  Schools  .... 

Environs  of  Philadelphia  . 

Joseph  Bonaparte — Moreau — Vandanune 

Wooden  Bridges  .... 

Projected  Improvements 

BALTIMORE 

Streets  and  Public  Buildings 
Monument  to  Washington — Battle  Monument 
Statues  of  Washington  by  Canova  and  Chantrey, 
Nate       ..... 
Fort  M'Hendry — Bombardment 
Fell's  Point — Privateers — Harbour 
Death  of  General  Ross 

Military  Review  .... 

Execution  of  two  Mail  Robbers 
Penitentiary — Hospital 
Education — University — St  Mary's  College 
Lancasterian  School        .... 
Flour  Mill         . 

Republican  contest  for  Sheriffalty 
Religion — Churches — Sermons 
Sabbath  Schools 


CONTENTS.  XV 

WASHINGTON  I-AGK 
Situation — Plan  of  the  city— Appearance  .  251 — 2oo 
Tiber  .....  ib. 
Burning  of  the  Public  Buildings  .  •  256 
Capitol  .....  257 
President's  House  ....  259 
Libraries  .....  260 
Patent  Office  .  .  .  261 
Law  respecting  Patents  and  Copy-right  .  262 — 264< 
Rapidity  of  Publication,  Note  .  .  .  263 
Navy  yard — Monument  .  .  264< — 267 
Senate  .....  268 
House  of  Representatives  .  .  .  269 
Usages  of  Congress  and  Parliament  .  .  270 — 274 
Supreme  Court— United  States'  Bank  .  274—- 278 
Trumbull's  painting  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence .....  278—281 
Anecdote  of  George  III.,  Note  .  •  278 
Surviving  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, Note  .  .  .  .  281 
Religion—  Churches  .  .  .  .  ib. 
Commodores  Decatur  and  Rodgors  .  .  282 

ALEXANDRIA 

Wooden  bridge  across  the  Potowmak      .              ,  286 

Alexandria—  Trade         •  287 

Scotsmen — British  ships  of  war                .              .  287 — 288 

MOUNT  VERNON 

Mansion  house                 ....  289 
Key  of  the   Bastile— Earthenware  miniature   of 

Washington              ,             .             .              .  291 

Washington's  Grave                                   .              ,  292 

Attempt  to  steal  his  Body           .             .            ..  293 

Proposals  to  remove  his  Body     ...  ib. 

Fort  Washington            ....  295 

A  Virginia  Barbecue  297—300 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

RIVER  HUDSON  PAGE 
Steamboats  .....  303—305 
Comparison  of  American  and  British  steam  boats, 

Note           .....  305 

Hoboken — General  Hamilton                 .             .  309 

Weehawken — Descriptive  poetry,  Note                •  310 

Greenwich          .             .              .              .             .  311 

Kingsbridge — Haerlem  Creek — Palisades           .  312 

Tappaan  Bay                   ....  313 

Legend  of  die  Sleepy  Hollow,  Note        .              .  ib. 

Dutch  settlement — Towns — River  craft               .  314 

Verplank's  Point            ....  315 
Highlands  of  the  Hudson — American  and  Scotish 

mountains                 ....  316 

Fort  Putnam — Military  Academy  of  West  Point  317 

Dolph  Heyliger,  Note.                ...  ib. 

Putnam's  rock,  Note      ....  318 

Kaatskill  mountains — Rip  Van  Winkle,  Note    .  320 

ALBANY 

Jealousy  of  large  cities  .  .  .  321 

Streets  and  Buildings  ....  322 

Lake  Erie  Canal — Lake  Champlain  Canal,  Note  324 

v  Feudal  system  ....  325 

Influence  of  landed  proprietors  .  .  328 

Hot  weather — Evening  lightning  .  .  329 

Mohawk  river— Cohoes  Fall  ...  330 

Lansingburgh — Troy  .  .  .  .  331 

^Churches — Sermons — Treatment  of  Blacks  331 — 333 


LETTER   I. 


VOL.  I. 


LETTER   I. 

VOYAGE — ADVERSE     WINDS — ST.    MICHAEL'S — PEAK     OF     PICO — 

FAYAL AMERICAN     CONSUL'S    RESIDENCE CLIMATE    OF     THE 

AZORES POPISH    CEREMONIES  DURING    LENT  NUNNERY  

VILLA    ORTA  —  DRESS    AND    CHARACTER    OF    THE    NATIVES  — 
PRODUCE    OF    THE    ISLAND — BIRTH-DAY    DINNER. 

Fayal,  one  of  the  Azores, 
March  \Uh,  1818. 

the  Fanny's  topsails  were  loosed  on  the  2d 
of  February,  and  the  anchor  weighed  by  which  she 
had  been  riding,  I  anticipated  no  landing  place  be- 
tween Greenock  and  New  York ;  but  here  we  are 
amidst  the  orange  groves  of  Fayal,  after  six  weeks' 
tossing  upon  the  boisterous  ocean. 

The  wind  was  unfavourable  when  we  sailed,  and 
has  continued  so  with  very  little  intermission,  till 
within  the  last  two  days ;  sleet  and  rain  poured  on 
us  almost  incessantly  for  four  weeks ;  while  heavy 
gales,  and  even  hurricanes,  succeeded  each  other 
for  the  same  period,  with  a  frequency  and  vio- 
lence which  our  Captain  says  he  never  before 
experienced,  in  about  thirty  passages  across  the 
Atlantic.  Our  vessel  bears  the  sad  tokens  of  the 
hardships  of  a  winter  voyage;  the  greater  part  of 
the  bulwarks  have  been  stove  in,  our  sprit-sail 

A2 


4  LETTER  I. VOYAGE. 

yard  is  gone,  twice  the  jib  boom  has  been  carried 
away,  the  billet  head  is  lashed  with  ropes,  or  it 
would  have  long  since  left  us,  and  on  one  occasion, 
while  lying  to  under  a  new  main-stay-sail,  the 
canvass  burst  with  a  tremendous  report,  and  a  great 
part  of  it  was  blown  to  rags  before  it  was  possible 
to  haul  it  down.  To  complete  the  detail,  we  have 
beat  about  from  near  the  58th  degree  of  latitude, 
to  our  present  position,  close  by  the  38th,  without  a 
possibility  of  getting  any  farther  to  the  westward.1 

During  the  last  fortnight,  we  have  been  in 
smoother  waters  and  a  warmer  climate;  but  the 
winds  continuing  to  baffle  us,  we  are  compelled  to 
take  refuge  here,  and  glad  indeed  to  attain  it,  that 
we  might  procure  a  supply  of  water  and  provisions. 
The  delay  is  somewhat  mortifying,  yet  I  scarcely 
regret  that  it  has  occurred,  since  it  has  been  the 
means  of  bringing  us  among  these  orange  clad  isles, 
blooming  in  the  verdure  of  perpetual  spring,  which 
I  should  probably  never  otherwise  have  had  an  op- 
portunity of  visiting. 

Four  days  ago  we  first  descried  land ;  but  then, 
by  inexperienced  eyes,  scarcely  to  be  distinguished 

1  Soon  after  our  arrival  in  New  York,  tidings  were  received  of  the 
loss  of  several  vessels  which  had  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  America, 
a  few  days  after  we  left  Greenock,  and  had  encountered  on  the  coast, 
the  same  gales  which  we  had  with  difficulty  weathered  at  sea.  Some 
were  dismasted,  some  cast  ashore  and  totally  wrecked  ;  others  were 
never  heard  of  after  leaving  the  port,  and  of  course,  must  have  found- 
ered at  sea.  Thus  it  is,  in  the  mysterious  operations  of  Divine 
Providence,  that  "  one  is  taken  and  another  left." 

9 


ADVERSE  WINDS — ST.  MICHAEL'S.  5 

from  a  dim  cloud  hovering  on  the  verge  of  the  ho- 
rizon. Next  morning  we  were  within  a  few  miles 
of  St.  Michael's.  The  sky  was  cloudless  and  se- 
rene, the  fishing  boats  of  the  natives  were  rowing 
about,  land  birds  were  sweeping  in  airy  circles 
around  us,  and  the  eye  rested,  with  a  hitherto  un- 
known delight,  upon  the  green  verdure  of  the 
swelling  eminences  which  receded  from  the  rocky 
shore. 

St.  Michael's,  the  largest  of  the  Azores,  or  Hawk 
islands,  as  the  name  signifies,  bears  like  the  others, 
every  appearance  of  a  volcanic  origin.  The  shore 
is  most  generally  bold  and  precipitous,  and  in  many 
places  around  it  huge  and  shapeless  rocks  start 
abruptly  out  of  the  water ;  some  of  them  broad  and 
square,  showing  patches  of  vegetation,  others  bare 
and  splintered,  and  at  a  distance  resembling  some- 
what the  dilapidated  columns  of  an  ancient  temple. 
Backwards  from  the  rocky  shore  the  ground  heaves 
with  graceful  undulations,  between  which  may  be 
sometimes  seen  scattered  cottages  and  inclosures, 
but  I  could  discover  few  trees  of  any  considerable 
size.  These  hills  terminate  in  a  bare  rocky  ridge, 
which  appeared  to  us  to  traverse  the  greater  part  of 
the  island. 

Doubling  the  northern  point,  and  gaining  sight 
of  the  principal  town  and  harbour,  we  tacked  and 
stood  in.  A  westerly  breeze  would  now  for  the 
first  time  have  favoured  us,  but  during  the  pre- 
ceding night  it  had  shifted  to  the  eastward,  and  we 

A3 


6  LETTER  I. — VOYAGE. 

soon  found  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  make  the 
port.  Unwilling  to  lose  entirely  the  benefit  of  the 
change,  our  captain  determined  to  abandon  the  at- 
tempt, and  to  make  rather  for  Fayal,  about  three 
degrees  of  longitude  farther  in  our  direct  course 
for  America.  The  vessel  was  therefore  put  about, 
the  yards  were  squared,  the  studding  sails  for  the 
first  time  spread  before  the  breeze,  and  now 

"  Merrily,  merrily  goes  the  bark, 
Before  the  gale  she  bounds ; 
So  starts  the  dolphin  from  the  shark, 
Or  the  stag  before  the  hounds." 

But  disappointment  reigned  on  board.  We  had 
assured  ourselves  of  setting  foot  on  dry  land,  the 
steward's  shoe  brushes  had  been  busy  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  were  all  rigged  out  in  our  best,  and  now 
our  eager  anticipations  were  baffled,  by  what  we 
least  expected,  a  fair  wind.  The  waves  were 
curling  their  white  tops  behind  us,  and  the  vessel 
driving  gaily  along  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight 
knots  an  hour,  but  we  could  not  help  gazing  wist- 
fully over  the  stern,  at  the  rapidly  receding  shores 
of  St.  Michael's. 

The  following  day  was  cloudy,  but  the  wind  con- 
tinued fair,  and  early  in  the  forenoon  we  descried 
the  conical  summit  of  the  Peak  of  Pico,  resting  in 
solitaiy  magnificence  above  a  throne  of  clouds. 
The  height  of  this  mountain  is  estimated  at  9000 


PEAK  OF  PICO — FAYAL.  7 

feet;  in  fine  weather  it  is  seen  at  a  distance  of  25 
leagues,  and  now  its  lofty  apex  was  a  land  mark  in 
our  view,  long  before  we  could  discover  the  base 
of  the  island.  Gradually  it  enlarged  at  our  ap- 
proach, and  in  a  few  hours  we  entered  the  narrow 
channel  between  Pico  and  Fayal. 

Villa  Orta,  the  principal  town  in  Fayal,  is  built 
in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  in  the  hollow  of  a  little 
bay  towards  the  middle  of  the  island,  and,  from 
the  water,  has  rather  an  imposing  appearance. 
The  ground  slopes  up  pretty  abruptly  from  the 
shore,  and  the  houses,  which  are  almost  universally 
white  washed,  with  black  mouldings  and  projec- 
ions,  overtop  each  other  as  they  recede;  several 
churches  and  other  large  buildings  relieve  the  eye 
it  intervals,  and  some  inconsiderable  fortifications 
skirt  the  beach.  The  deep  toned  peal  of  church 
and  convent  bells  floated  through  the  air  as  we 
massed,  and  we  felt  gratified  at  the  prospect  of 
singling  again  in  the  busy  hum  of  men. 

Except  in  this  little  bay  there  is  no  anchorage 
ground ;  the  shore  everywhere  else  is  as  steep  and 
ocky  as  that  of  St.  Michael's,  and  the  water  of 
at  depth.  The  wind,  however,  blew  so  strong 
hat  the  Captain  thought  it  dangerous  to  enter, 
ind  it  was  not  till  the  following  day,  after  having 
nade  the  circuit  of  the  island,  that  we  had  the 
atisfaction  of  letting  go  the  anchor ;  we  were  now 
vithin  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  shore,  and  yet 
ound  21  fathoms  water.  In  a  short  time  we  were 


8  LETTER  I. — FAYAL. 

visited  by  the  health  boat,  and  after  a  few  pre- 
liminary ceremonies,  we  received  permission  to  go 
on  shore. 

I  accompanied  the  captain  to  the  office  of  Mr. 
D ,  the  American  consul,  and  after  the  neces- 
sary orders  had  been  given  for  the  supplies  which 
we  required,  we  were  invited  by  the  consul  to 
accompany  him  home. 

The  residence  of  this  gentleman  is  in  a  beautiful 
situation  at  a  short  distance  from  the  town ;  the 
house  fronts  the  sea,  and  commands  a  view  of  Pico. 
The  garden  with  which  it  is  surrounded,  is  such 
as  cannot  be  seen  in  our  inhospitable  clime.  Skirt- 
ing the  upper  part  of  it,  was  a  hedge  composed 
entirely  of  geraniums,  about  six  feet  high,  contain- 
ing every  variety  of  leaf  and  flower,  and  blooming 
with  all  the  luxuriance  of  summer.  Scattered  in 
the  richest  profusion  along  the  walks,  were  orange, 
lemon,  and  citron  trees,  covered  with  blossoms  and 
fruit  in  every  stage  of  advancement ;  and  thus  they 
appear  the  whole  year  round,  with  only  this  ex- 
ception, that  the  principal  crop  is  ripe  about 
the  month  of  December  or  January,  at  which 
period  the  fruit  is  exported.  Roses  fully  blown 
were  shedding  their  fragrance,  the  peach  tree  and 
the  acacia  were  covered  with  blossoms,  and  around 
were  the  sugar  cane,  the  tea  and  coffee  shrubs, 
the  almond  tree,  and  the  fig.  All  these  were  in 
full  verdure,  the  vines  alone  were  bare.  We  saw 
also  the  dark  green  shrub,  from  which  it  is  said 


AMERICAN  CONSUL'S  RESIDENCE.  9 


that  the  island  takes  its  name ;  its  buds,  however, 
had  not  then  burst. 

We  returned  in  the  evening  to  the  vessel,  with 
a  large  basket  of  the  most  delicious  oranges,  a  pre- 
sent from  Mr.  D ,  and  an  invitation  to  the 

cabin  passengers  to  spend  the  following  day  with 
his  family.  We  found  on  board  a  number  of  the 
natives,  spreading  out  on  the  deck  various  articles 
of  merchandise,  among  which  were  little  red  bas- 
kets of  very  delicate  workmanship,  some  of  which 
I  secured  as  a  memorial  of  my  visit. 

At  breakfast  next  morning,  I  remarked  the  want 
of  a  fire  place  in  the  parlour  where  we  sat ;  but 
fire  places,  except  in  the  kitchen,  are  here  unknown. 
The  thermometer  ranges  from  52°  to  80°  Fahr.,  con- 
sequently the  islanders  know  nothing  either  of  cold 
or  of  excessive  heat.  Vegetation  never  ceases.  To 
counterbalance  these  advantages,  the  whole  of  the 
Azores  are  liable  to  frequent  earthquakes,  and 
even  to  occasional  volcanic  eruptions. 

To  occupy  a  part  of  the  forenoon,  a  visit  was 
proposed  to  some  of  the  churches,  where  the  cere- 
monies of  Lent  were  going  forward.  Under  the 

patronage  of  Mr.  D- 's    son,   we  found   ready 

access  by  a  private  passage  to  one  of  the  largest; 
and  were  permitted  to  stand  within  a  few  yards  of 
the  altar,  apart  from  the  congregation,  where  we 
were  recognised  as  mere  spectators  of  what  was 
going  forward. 

The  scene  which  presented  itself  was  of  the  most 


10  LETTER  I. — FAYAL. 

gorgeous  description.  The  walls  and  roof  were 
profusely  adorned  with  painting  and  gilding ;  the 
altar  was  decked  with  crucifixes,  large  candle- 
sticks, chalices,  and  salvers,  most  of  which  were 
gilt,  and  boquets  of  beautiful  flowers.  Behind 
the  altar  was  a  sloping  platform  of  very  consider- 
able extent,  rising  as  it  receded  into  a  ^deep  oval 
recess,  and  covered  with  a  multitude  of  lighted 
candles.  Pyramids  of  candles  were  fixed  here  and 
there  over  the  walls,  as  well  as  on  an  iron  railing 
which  crossed  at  the  bottom  of  the  platform,  to 
separate  it  from  the  body  of  the  church.  The 
officiating  priests  were  three  in  number,  attired  in 
splendid  robes  of  richly  figured  and  embossed 
silk,  of  a  primrose  colour,  with  massy  cords  and 
tassels  hanging  over  their  shoulders.  Portions  of 
the  dress  of  the  principal  priest  were  occasionally 
changed  by  his  colleagues,  and  one  of  them  at 
intervals,  removed  the  spectacles  from  his  nose, 
with  the  most  ridiculous  solemnity.  Their  per- 
sons, of  the  goodliest  diameter,  and  their  round 
rosy  cheeks,  contrasted  most  wonderfully  with  thd 
scarecrow  congregation  below  the  railing.  Their 
smooth  shining  bullet  heads  were  surrounded  with 
a  ring  of  hair,  and  one  of  them  resembled  strongly 
the  portrait  of  Louis  the  18th.  Two  or  three  as- 
sistants in  white  robes  attended  beside  them,  and 
at  one  corner  of  the  platform,  stood  a  young  mail 
closely  habited  in  black,  with  a  candle  larger  than 
a  walking  stick  in  his  hand,  bowing,  muttering, 


POPISH  CEREMONIES  DURING  LENT.  11 

and   crossing   himself,    during  the    whole   of  the 
ceremony. 

The  service  was  high  mass,  that  is,  mass  accom- 
panied with  singing;  and  however  disgusting  in 
other  respects,  the  vocal  music,  with  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  organ,  was  exceedingly  fine.  The 
melodious  voices  of  a  body  of  females  rose  from 
the  lower  end  of  the  church,  where,  as  I  afterwards 
earned,  were  the  nuns  of  an  adjoining  convent, 
shrouded  behind  a  grating. 

After  consecrating  the  wine,  in  a  gilt  cup, 
the  senior  priest  carried  it  down  from  the  altar, 
one  of  the  attendants  then  expanded  over  his  head 
a  large  silk  umbrella,  of  a  similar  texture  to  the 
robes,  the  other  two  priests  followed  behind  him, 
and  around  were  the  whole  body  of  assistants, 
carrying  enormous  wax  candles.  In  this  order 
the  wine  was  paraded  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
church,  and  back  again,  through  the  kneeling  ranks 
of  the  congregation,  who  crossed  themselves  most 
zealously  as  it  passed.  By  and  by  the  same  form 
was  repeated  with  the  wafers,  and  part  of  them 
administered  through  the  iron  grating  to  the  abbess 
and  the  nuns.  At  intervals,  silver  censers  filled 
with  glowing  embers  were  handed  to  the  priests, 
and  clouds  of  incense  were  offered  before  the  altar. 
I  could  not  help  remarking  that  the  priests  with 
all  their  assumed  solemnity  and  devotion,  seemed 
somewhat  at  a  loss  to  keep  it  up.  One  of  them 
eyed  us  askance  with  considerable  intentness  dur- 


12  LETTER  1. — PAYAL. 

ing  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  and  both  of  the 
less  active  ones  whispered  occasionally  to  each 
other,  and  to  the  assistants,  in  a  trifling  and  irre- 
verent manner.  The  ceremonial  itself  was  far  too 
stiff  and  fidgetting  to  be  at  all  imposing ;  a  priest 
pulling  spectacles  off  another's  nose,  marching 
within  doors  under  an  umbrella,  and  shifting  from 
one  side  to  another  like  an  awkward  dancer  in  a 
minuet,  seems  a  very  probable  means  of  exciting 
disgust,  but  a  very  improbable  one  of  cherishing 
devotion.  An  indescribable  sensation  of  uneasiness 
pervaded  my  mind,  during  all  the  time  that  we 
continued  in  this  temple  of  superstition ;  and  I  was 
happy  to  escape  from  the  sickening  smell  of  the 
incense,  and  the  smoky  glimmering  of  the  candles, 
to  the  freshness  of  the  open  air  and  the  pure  light 
of  heaven. 

We  were  next  conducted  to  a  nunnery ;  but  a 
wrinkled  portress,  who  answered  our  summons  at 
the  porch,  told  us  that  no  strangers  could  be  ad- 
mitted during  Lent.  If  all  the  nuns  within  resem- 
bled her,  I  thought  there  was  but  little  need  to  be 
very  careful  in  locking  them  up.  By  the  side  of 
the  nunnery  door  was  a  kind  of  small  barrel,  filling 
an  opening  in  the  wall,  and  whirling  round  upon 
pivots  at  top  and  bottom;  this  is  open  at  one  side 
and  fitted  with  shelves,  so  that  an  article  may  be 
conveyed  out  or  in  by  turning  it  round,  without 
the  parties  being  seen  by  each  other,  and  some 
mendicants  were  waiting  in  the  porch  to  receive 


NUNNERY VILLA  ORTA.  13 


14  LETTER  I. — FAYAL. 

peeping  at  us  from  behind  them.  One  of  the 
largest  buildings,  consisting  of  several  stories,  was 
formerly  the  Jesuits'  college,,  but  is  now  occupied 

by  our  kind  entertainer,    Mr.  D ,  as  a  wine 

cellar,  in  which  trade  he  is  extensively  engaged. 

The  only  ca'rriages  which  I  saw,  were  small 
clumsy  carts  drawn  by  two  oxen.  These  singular 
machines  consist  of  a  bottom  of  solid  boards,  ta- 
pering out  in  front  into  a  single  shaft,  with  a  few 
rude  pins  stuck  into  it  to  serve  in  place  of  sides  ; 
the  wheels  are  each  of  a  single  piece  of  solid  wood 
with  a  thin  outer  edge,  and  have  heavy  iron  nailsj 
hammered  into  the  circumference,  as  a  substitute 
for  rings ;  they  are  fixed  immovably  to  the  axle, 
which  revolves  along  with  them,  within  a  small  box 
passing  under  the  cart.  No  mercy  is  shown  to 
the  poor  animals  which  drag  them;  we  saw  them 
urged  with  heavy  blows  and  loud  vociferations, 
while  the  wretched  cart  went  wriggling  through 
deep  ruts,  under  the  most  disproportioned  loads. 

The    Azores   are   subject  to  Portugal,  and  the 
language   of  that   country   is    universally    spoken. 
The  natives  are  slender,  but  well  made.     The  men 
wear  cotton  jackets   and  trowsers,  and  some  wh 
had  come  from  the  country  with   cattle  for  sal 
carried  a  long  staff  or  pole  in  their  hands.     Th 
women  are  more  fantastically  attired.     Some  ar 
completely  shrouded  in  large  blue  cloaks,  some 
what  resembling  in  shape,  the  red  duffles  of  ou 
native  country,  but  much  more  ample  in  their  folds 


NATIVES — FAYAL  WINE.  15 

the  hood  is  very  large,  and  is  gathered  close  by 
the  hand  at  the  mouth,  so  as  completely  to  conceal 
the  features  ;  the  upper  part  projects  forward,  and 
no  more  is  left  open  than  is  barely  sufficient  to 
enable  the  lady  to  pilot  her  way.  These  are  most 
convenient  dresses  for  those  who  court  conceal- 
ment, for  a  husband  cannot  recognise  his  wife  on 
the  street,  unless  some  peculiarity  of  gait  or  figure 
betrays  her.  Others  wear  a  man's  great  coat;  a 
large  gay  shawl  over  the  shoulders,  and  a  smaller 
one  falling  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  back 
of  the  neck,  surmounted  by  a  man's  hat ;  a  white 
handkerchief  round  the  throat,  and  a  staff  in  the 
hand. 

Externally  the  natives  are  amazingly  polite,  and 
universally  salute  you  in  the  street,  with  their  hand 
to  their  hat,  but  in  the  little  intercourse  which  we 
had  with  them,  we  found  them  avaricious,  crafty, 
and  malignant.  The  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the 
health  boat  importuned  us  for  money  in  the  pre- 
sence of  their  officers;  the  prices  which  they 
asked  for  their  baskets  and  other  commodities, 
were  most  exorbitant,  and  they  often  accepted  a 
fourth  of  their  first  demand ;  but  what  was  worse, 
one  of  them  having  disagreed  with  one  of  our 
steerage  passengers,  about  the  price  of  a  pig,  drew 
out  a  large  knife  and  threatened  to  stab  him. 

The  white  wine,  which  is  made  in  considerable 
quantities  at  Fayal,  is,  to  my  taste,  a  very  poor 
article;  it  is,  however,  very  potent,  and  some  of 
B  2 


16  LETTER  I. FATAL. 

our  steerage  passengers  got  prodigiously  loquacious 
under  its  influence.  The  grapes  are  chiefly  the  pro- 
duce of  Pico,  where  there  are  few  inhabitants  ex- 
cept those  who  are  employed  in  the  culture  of  the 
vines.  Fayal  produces  wheat,  Indian  corn,  oran- 
ges and  lemons.  The  lemons  are  I  suspect  of 
rather  an  inferior  quality,  but  the  oranges,  as  is 
well  known,  are  of  the  most  delicious  richness ;  the 
skin  is  thin  and  tender,  and  they  contain  few  seeds. 
When  allowed  to  ripen  on  the  tree,  however,  they 
attain  to  a  perfection  which  is  never  found  in  the 
exported  fruit,  which  must  necessarily  be  gathered 
when  hard,  or  it  could  not  endure  the  voyage. 
Fayal  oranges,  as  well  as  those  from  all  the  other 
islands,  bear  the  general  name  of  St.  Michael's, 
when  in  the  European  market. 

Our  arrival  here  has  been  exceedingly  opportune 
as  regards  our  intercourse  with  Mr.  D 's  fami- 
ly, for  this  happens  to  be  his  eldest  son's  birth  day. 
We  have  had  in  consequence  an  opportunity  of 
being  guests  at  the  birth  day  dinner,  and  of  ming- 
ling our  congratulations  on  this  happy  occasion, 
with  thanks  for  the  polite  attention  which  has  been 
paid  to  us.  The  back  of  the  chair  in  which  Mr. 

D ,  Junior,  sat,  was  adorned  with  a  profusion 

of  the  most  beautiful  flowers  arid  fruit  blossoms ; 
a  voluntary  expression  of  regard  and  good  wishes 
from  the  servants  of  the  family.  After  dinner,  two 
of  Mr.  D 's  daughters,  very  interesting  young 

ladies  favoured  us  with  some  fine  music  upon  the 

9 


BIRTH-DAY  DINNER.  17 

piano  forte,  and  you  can  easily  imagine  with  what 
feelings  of  homeward  attraction  I  listened  to  the 
"  Blue  bells  of  Scotland,"  on  this  little  fairy  island 
in  the  middle  of  the  vast  Atlantic. 

I  could  with  great  pleasure  have  spent  a  few 
.days  here,  to  have  had  an  opportunity  of  climbing 
the  vast  Peak  of  Pico,  and  of  enlarging  my  ac- 
quaintance with  the  general  aspect  of  Fayal,  but 
our  captain  has  attained  the  object  of  his  visit,  and 
has  summoned  us  on  board,  in  the  hope,  as  the 
wind  is  still  fair,  tha*~the  latter  part  of  our  voyage 
will  be  more  pleasant  and  more  propitious  than  its 
commencement. 


B3 


LETTER  II. 

VOYAGE  CONTINUED GULF  STREAM SANDY  HOOK PILOT  BOAT 

NEW     YORK CUSTOM     HOUSE     REGULATIONS LOCAL     AD- 
VANTAGES   OF    NEW     YORK HARBOUR STREETS PUBLIC 

BUILDINGS BATTERY BAY LONG    ISLAND  — BROOKLYN- 
NAVY  YARD — STEAM    FRIGATE. 

NOD  York,  May,  1818. 

AFTER  leaving  Fayal  we  enjoyed  in  general  fair 
winds  and  pleasant  weather,  till  near  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland,  where  we  experienced  the  usual 
fogs  and  a  thunderstorm.  Excepting  the  pheno- 
mena of  the  Gulf  stream,  we  met  with  nothing 
very  deserving  of  notice  during  the  second  portion 
of  our  voyage.  This  singular  current  is  so  called 
in  consequence  of  having  its  source  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  from  which  it  issues  between  Florida  and 
the  island  of  Cuba,  and  flows  in  a  north-easterly 
course,  skirting  for  a  time  the  shore  of  America 
and  then  losing  itself  in  the  vast  Atlantic.  Its  ve- 
locity near  its  source  is  about  four  knots  an  hour, 
which  gradually  decreases,  as  the  distance  from 
the  source  and  the  centre  of  the  current  becomes 
greater,  but  its  most  remarkable  characteristic  is 
the  very  high  temperature  which  it  retains  even  at 


22  LETTER  II. VOYAGE. 

a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  to  two  "thousand  miles 
from  the  Gulf.  Intelligent  shipmasters  are  accus- 
tomed to  observe  the  comparative  state  of  the 
thermometer  in  the  water  and  in  the  air,  as  an  im- 
portant assistance  in  ascertaining  their  course ;  and 
in  going  out  to  America  they  keep  as  much  as  pos- 
sible to  the  north  of  the  stream,  to  avoid  its  power- 
ful obstruction.  For  several  days  we  found  the 
water  from  ten  to  fifteen  degrees  warmer  than  the 
air,  and  on  one  occasion  the  variation  was  as  much 
as  twenty-two;  we  were  then  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  southern  extremity  of  Nova  Scotia,  when 
the  thermometer  stood  in  the  air  at  45°  and  in  the 
water  at  67°  Fahr. 

On  the  seventeenth  day  after  losing  sight  of 
Fayal,  we  made  Sandy  Hook,  and  had  the  pleasure 
of  taking  an  American  pilot  on  board.  The  boat 
in  which  he  came  out  to  us  particularly  attracted 
my  notice,  by  its  neatness  of  appearance  and  great 
rapidity  of  sailing.  It  was  a  small  decked  vessel, 
schooner-rigged,  and  very  sharp  in  the  bows.  At 
a- great  distance  we  observed  its  peaked  sails  skim- 
ming over  the  water,  and  bearing  down  upon  us 
with  the  utmost  precision  and  velocity;  when  a 
short  way  off,  its  foresail  was  backed  for  a  moment, 
and  a  small  two  oared  yawl  lowered  over  the  side, 
which  brought  the  pilot  to  our  vessel,  and  return- 
ing, was  instantly  hoisted  on  board  ;  the  sails  were 
again  trimmed,  and  it  darted  away,  as  if  to  display 
its  superior  speed  and  mock  our  tardy  motion ;  it 


NEW  YORK — CUSTOM    HOUSE.  2$ 

stretched  across  our  bows,  and  dashed  alternately 
to  windward  and  leeward,  sweeping  round  our  ves- 
sel like  a  sea  gull  round  a  rock. 

The  progress  of  our  ship  up  the  river  was  pre- 
vented by  a  strong  head  wind,  but  the  passengers 
were  eager  to  get  to  New  York,  rather  more  than 
twenty  miles  distant,  and  we  chartered  the  pilot 
boat  to  convey  us:  to  her  the  head  wind  was  a 
matter  of  little  consequence,  and  in  four  hours  we 
were  safely  landed  at  the  wharf.  Before  getting 
ashore,  which  was  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  we 
were  boarded  by  the  emissaries  of  two  morning 
newspapers,  who  extracted  from  us  the  principal 
occurrences  of  the  voyage,  with  the  names  of  the 
passengers,  and  next  morning  by  six  the  whole  was 
served  out  to  the  public  from  both  offices. 

The  custom  house  regulations  of  the  United 
States  relative  to  passengers,  are  very  liberal, — 
all  their  personal  luggage,  and  even  implements  of 
trade  and  husbandry  for  their  own  use,  being  ex- 
empted from  duty;  and  I  found  the  officer  who 
was  put  on  board  the  vessel  to  examine  our  trunks, 
perfectly  civil  and  accommodating.  His  appear- 
ance bespoke  him  a  man  of  habits  and  taste  very 
superior  to  a  large  proportion  of  those  whom  we 
find  performing  similar  duties  at  home,  and  one 
whom  no  one  would  be  disposed  to  insult  with  the 
offer  of  those  paltry  gratuities,  to  give  them  no  worse 
name,  for  which  excuses  are  so  frequently  disco- 
vered. I  had  been  solicited  to  take  charge  of  some 


24  LETTER  II. — NEW  YORK. 

volumes  as  presents  from  persons  at  home  to  their 
friends  here,  and  as  they  could  not  be  included  in 
the  entry  which  I  was  required  to  make,  under  the 
sanction  of  an  oath,  respecting  my  own  luggage,  I 
showed  them  to  the  searching  officer,  and  at  once 
obtained  his  permission  to  send  them  ashore.  All 
that  he  detained  was  a  selection  from  a  bundle  of 
tracts,  which  he  begged  me  to  give  him  with  a  view 
to  their  being  reprinted  here ; — few  persons  in  the 
same  profession  at  home  would  have  been  likely  to 
prefer  such  a  request. 

I  have  now  spent  several  weeks  in  New  York, 
but  shall  postpone  for  the  present  any  remarks 
upon  the  social,  moral,  or  political  characteristics 
of  its  inhabitants,  in  the  hope  that  I  shall  hereafter 
have  abundant  opportunities  of  more  extensive  ob- 
servation ;  the  remaining  pages  of  this  letter  shall 
rather  be  devoted  to  brief  notices  of  the  more  re- 
markable peculiarities  of  their  city. 

New  York  is  built  upon  the  southern  point  of 
Manhattan  island,  and  enjoys  a  situation  in  every 
respect  admirably  suited  for  commercial  purposes. 
The  Hudson,  or  North  River,  passes  it  upon  the  one 
side;  a  narrow  part  of  Long  Island  Sound,  familiarly 
termed  the  East  River,  washes  it  upon  the  other  ; 
while  in  front  is  a  noble  bay,  expanding  between 
the  shores  of  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey,  in 
which  the  united  navies  of  the  world  might  spread 
their  canvass.  Below  the  bay  are  the  Narrows, 
facilitating  the  defence  of  the  harbour,  and  at  va- 


LOCAL  ADVANTAGES  OF  NEW  YORK.      25 

rious  points  above  and  below  them  are  forts  of 
such  imposing  strength,  that  it  seems  impossible 
that  any  naval  armament  can  ever  reach  the  city, 
unless  in  consequence  of  the  co-operating  exertions 
of  a  powerful  land  force.  Ice  very  rarely,  now, 
obstructs  the  navigation,  and  about  twenty  miles 
from  the  city  the  Atlantic  opens  to  the  vessels, 
without  a  rock  or  island  thereafter  to  annoy  them. 
With  the  eastern  coast  of  America,  there  is  a  con- 
venient and  safe  communication  through  Long 
Island  Sound;  and  the  Hudson,  having  its  source 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  state,  affords  an  inland 
navigation,  even  for  large  vessels,  of  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

Extensive  as  the  commerce  of  the  Hudson  al- 
ready is,  the  great  canals  which  are  now  in  pro- 
gress, between  Lake  Erie  on  the  one  side  and 
Lake  Champlain  on  the  other,  must  operate  power- 
fully to  augment  it.  New  York  will  thus  become 
the  concentrating  point,  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  commerce  of  the  great  lakes  on  the  left, 
and  the  state  of  Vermont  on  the  right ;  and  the 
stimulus  which  is  already  to  a  considerable  degree 
felt  from  steam  navigation,  must,  from  the  nature 
of  the  country,  operate  more  powerfully  in  this 
district  than  in  any  other  of  this  vast  continent. 
The  population  of  the  upland  country  will  now 
advance  more  rapidly  than  ever/  and  not  a  tree 
will  be  felled  which  does  not  necessarily  operate  to 
increase  the  trade  and  riches  of  New  York. 

VOL.  i.  c 


26  LETTER  II. — NEW  YORK. 

The  harbour  of  New  York  is  one  of  the  best  in 
the  country,  and  is  capable  of  almost  unlimited  ex- 
tension. The  wharfs  skirt  both  sides  of  the  island, 
and  piers  project  at  right  angles  into  the  stream, 
leaving  intermediate  slips,  which  have  many  of  the 
advantages  of  wet  docks  and  are  free  from  several  of 
their  inconveniences.  The  tides  rise  and  fall  about 
six  feet,  but  there  is  always  water  enough  abreast 
of  the  piers  to  float  the  largest  merchantmen. 
They  do  not  however  enjoy  the  advantage  of  dry 
docks,  for  the  tide  does  not  ebb  sufficiently  to  empty 
them  and  mechanical  means  have  not  yet  been  re- 
sorted to ;  but  vessels  which  need  repair  are  hove 
down  in  shallow  water,  first  upon  the  one  side  and 
then  upon  the  other. 

With  such  accumulated  advantages,  in  posses- 
sion and  in  prospect,  it  is  not  surprising  that  New 
York  has  been  hitherto  the  commercial  capital  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  principal  point  of  com- 
munication between  North  America  and  Europe; 
it  is  probable  indeed  that  it  will  long  retain  this 
pre-eminence.  Masts  surround  the  city  like  reeds 
on  the  margin  of  a  pool ;  and  when  one  passes 
along  the  wharfs,  and  witnesses  the  never  ceasing 
operations  of  loading  and  discharging,  warping  out 
and  hauling  in,  vessels  of  every  description  arriving 
and  sailing  with  every  breeze  that  blows,  together 
with  the  bustling  of  shippers,  custom-house  officers, 
sailors,  and  carmen,  he  cannot  but  be  impressed 
with  the  great  extent  of  the  commerce,  which  can 


HARBOUR — STREETS.  27 

supply  such  extensive  means  with  such  unceasing 
employment. 

The  streets  in  the  lower  and  older  portion'  of  the 
city  are  very  narrow  and  crooked,  and  what  is 
more  immediately  inexcusable,  kept  in  very  bad 
order.  Garbage  and  litter  of  almost  every  kind  are 
thrown  out  upon  the  pavement,  where  a  multitude 
of  hogs  of  all  ages  riot  in  abundance.  The  foot 
walks  are  encumbered  with  projecting  steps  and 
cellar  doors,  lamp  posts,  pump  wells,  and  occasion- 
ally poplar  trees ;  and  where  any  open  space  oc- 
curs, barrels,  packing-boxes,  and  wheelbarrows,  are 
not  unfrequently  piled  up.  The  citizens  could  not, 
I  think,  do  better  than  import  half  a  dozen  of  our 
Glasgow  police  officers,  to  make  a  reform  in  their 
street  regulations,  and  instruct  them  in  the  myste- 
ries of  common-sewers  and  gutters.  No  town  af- 
fords greater  facilities  for  subterraneous  drains,  for 
the  ground  slopes  on  both  sides  from  the  centre  to 
the  water,  and  no  town  that  ever  I  saw  stands  so 
much  in  need  of  them.  The  more  modern  streets 
are  greatly  superior  in  every  respect ;  they  are  in 
general  wide  and  straight,  and  the  footwalks  com- 
paratively free  of  projections  and  encumbrances. 
The  city  is  throughout  very  indifferently  lighted, 
and  in  many  places  the  feeble  glimmerings  of  a 
solitary  oil  lamp,  must  struggle  past  two  stately 
trees,  which  stand  like  sentinels  to  defend  it. 

Broadway,  the  Trongate  of  New  York,  passes 
longitudinally  through  the  centre  of  the  city,  and 
C  2 


28  LETTER  II. NEW  YORK. 

occupies  in  general  the  highest  part  of  the  ground  : 
it  is  wide  and  straight,  and  pretty  compactly  built 
for  nearly  two  miles.  It  contains  a  great  many 
well  built  houses  of  brick,  but  there  is  still  a  con- 
siderable intermixture  of  paltry  .wooden  ones ;  a 
few  scattered  poplars  skirt  each  side,  but  I  cannot 
think  them  any  improvement;  their  bareness  in 
winter  increases  the  dreariness  of  the  prospect, 
and  they  are  too  ragged  and  dusty  in  summer  to 
be  at  all  beautiful. 

The  early  Dutch  settlers,  with  a  pertinacious  but 
characteristic  adherence  to  national  customs,  im- 
ported bricks  from  Holland  to  construct  their 
dwellings,  and  a  few  of  these  houses  still  remain ; 
they  are  one  story  in  height,  with  the  gable  end  to 
the  street  and  a  little  iron  weathercock  perched 
upon  the  top  of  it.  The  British  settlers,  how- 
ever, of  more  innovating  dispositions,  laid  the  sur- 
rounding forests  under  contribution  for  building 
materials,  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
older  part  of  the  city  is  still  constructed  of  wood. 
Frequent  and  destructive  fires  were  the  natural 
consequence  of  this  system,  and  these  are  still  every 
winter  grubbing  out  a  few  of  the  remaining  wooden 
tenements.  The  erection  of  wooden  houses  is  now 
prohibited,  and  the  brick  ones  which  succeed  them 
are  built  with  a  neatness  which  is  unknown  in 
houses  of  a  similar  material  at  home.  The  bricks 
are  made  of  a  very  fine  clay,  which  affords  a  very 
close  and  smooth  grain,  and  the  buildings  are  al- 


PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.  29 

ways  showily  painted,  either  of  a  bright  red  with 
white  lines  upon  the  seams,  or  of  a  clean  looking 
yellow.  In  many  of  the  more  recent  ones,  the  lin- 
tels and  steps  are  of  marble.  Stone  buildings  are 
very  rare. 

Except  the  City  Hall  there  is  scarcely  a  public 
building  deserving  of  notice.  This  is  a  splendid 
edifice,  almost  entirely  of  white  marble ;  the  archi- 
tecture however  is  unfortunately  very  faulty,  so  that 
the  very  reverse  of  Ovid's  description,  "  materiam 
superabat  opus,"  is  in  this  case  applicable.  In- 
ternal convenience  seems  to  have  been  the  presi- 
ding principle  in  its  design,  and  a  republican  pro- 
pensity to  saving,  exhibited  in  constructing  the 
basement  story  of  red  free  stone,  and  the  dome  of 
painted  wood,  has  still  farther  injured  its  appear- 
ance! 

The  building  is  an  oblong  square  with  project- 
ing wings,  two  stories  in  height  besides  the  base- 
ment ;  with  a  portico  of  half  the  height  between  the 
wings,  and  a  kind  of  lantern  dome,  supporting  a 
figure  of  Justice.  The  portico  consists  of  sixteen 
Ionic  columns,  springing  from  a  handsome  flight 
of  steps,  but  unhappily  surmounted  by  a  balus- 
traded  balcony,  in  place  of  a  pediment.  In  the 
front  there  are  no  less  than  between  sixty  and 
seventy  windows;  some  of  them  flat  and  others 
arched,  and  a  few  with  intervening  Corinthian 
pilasters.  The  prevailing  defect  is  the  absence  of 
simplicity  and  grandeur.  The  portico,  in  relation 
C3 


30  LETTER  II. — NEW  YORK. 

to  the  building,  is  exceedingly  dwarfish,  and  the 
windows  with  their  minute  ornaments  break  down 
the  whole  into  too  much  detail ;  the  injudicious 
use  of  red  stone  also,  in  the  basement  story,  materi- 
ally diminishes  the  apparent  height.  The  prin- 
cipal entrance  is  by  the  portico  in  front;  within 
is  a  handsome  lobby,  with  a  marble  stair  of  elegant 
proportions  leading  to  the  second  story,  and  from 
a  circular  railed  gallery  at  the  landing  place,  ten 
marble  columns  arise,  supporting  the  dome.  The 
apartments  of  the  building,  are  appropriated  to  the 
use  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  city,  and  the 
different  Courts  of  Law.  The  chair  occupied  by 
the  Mayor  in  the  Council  Room,  is  the  same  in 
which  Washington  sat,  when  presiding  at  the  first 
Congress  of  the  United  States ;  and  a  full  length 
portrait  of  this  great  man,  with  those  of  some 
others  of  the  Revolutionary  chiefs,  adorns  the  walls. 
In  the  other  rooms  there  is  a  profusion  of  portraits 
of  officers  who  distinguished  themselves  during 
the  recent  conflict.  It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this 
building  there  is  no  room  at  all  adapted  for  the 
purposes  of  a  popular  meeting ;  we  may  well  won- 
der at  this  omission  in  the  principal  city  of  a  re- 
publican state,  where  every  Act  of  the  Legislature 
is  introduced  by  the  proud  preamble,  "  WE  THE 

PEOPLE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  BY  THE 
GRACE  OF  GOD,  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT." 

A  very  few  of  the  churches  are  of  stone,  but 
their  architecture  in  general  presents  glaring  speci- 


PUBLIC    BUILDINGS.  31 

mens  of  bad  taste.2  The  steeples  are  in  some  cases 
lofty,  but  always  of  wood,  and  though  as  gay  as 
white  paint  and  a  gilt  weathercock  can  make  them, 
have  to  one  from  the  old  country  an  air  of  paltri- 
ness and  insecurity ;  one  of  them  is  so  exceedingly 
slender  that  it  might  not  inaptly  be  likened  to  an 
enormous  darning  needle.  In  one  of  the  principal 
churches,  the  architect,  wishing  to  avoid  the  incon- 
gruity of  a  steeple  rising  above  a  Grecian  portico, 
has  placed  it  at  the  other  end  of  the  building ;  in 

2  After  the  above  remarks  on  the  general  style  of  New  York  archi- 
tecture were  written,  &•  number  of  the  North  American  Review 
reached  me,  (a  work  to  which  I  shall  hereafter  have  frequent  occasion 
to  refer)  containing  extracts  from  'Letters  on  the  Eastern  States,' 
published  anonymously  at  New  York  in  1820,  from  which  I  select 
the  following  corroborative  testimony. 

"  How  few  buildings  in  this  country,  either  public  or  private,  are 
constructed  with  a  due  regard  to  the  principles  of  beauty,  or  a  wise 
distribution  as  to  convenience  for  the  occupants.  How  often  are  they 
left  -to  mere  mechanics,  who  erect  them  with  the  aid  of  the  '  Builder's 
Assistant,'  with  about  the  same  degree  of  success  that  would  be  ob- 
tained in  a  correspondence  guided  by  the  '  Complete  Letter  Writer. ' 
—There  are  in  Boston,  Providence,  and  in  some  other  towns,  places 
of  public  worship  that  are  not  destitute  of  merit,  but  it  is  united  with 
great  defects.  It  would  be  an  invidious  task  to  point  out  all  these, 
but  there  are  two  cases  where  bad  taste  has  operated  to  destroy  a  good 
effect  where  it  might  have  been  produced,  that  may  be  mentioned  as 
examples.  A  church  was  built  a  few  years  since  in  Boston,  for 
which  the  original  design  was  very  handsome.  It  was  intended  to 
be  a  parallelogram,  with  a  Doric  portico ;  the  walls  were  plain  with 
large  windows,  making  only  one  story,  and  built  of  a  beautiful  white 
granite.  Thus  far  the  original  design ;  but  the  plans  of  an  architect 
have  to  pass  through  the  hands  of  a  committee.  The  first  thing  that 
was  done  was  to  add  a  steeple ;  a  very  pretty  one ;  and  tliis  though  a 


32  LETTER  II. — NEW  YORK. 

this  there  is  of  course  only  a  choice  of  difficulties, 
but  the  result  is  in  the  present  case  not  happy,  for 
the  awkward  position  suggests  to  the  spectator  the 
idea  of  a  tail. 

In  front  of  the  City  Hall  is  a  triangular  grass 
plot  of  half  an  acre  or  so,  intersected  with  gravel 
walks,  and  skirted  on  two  sides  with  a  few  poplars, 
which  is  dignified  with  the  rather  inappropriate  name 
of  the  Park.  Green  turf  however  is  scarce  with- 
in the  precincts  of  the  city,  and  the  natives  may  be 

sort  of  monster  in  architecture,  is  justifiable  from  the  agreeable 
effect  it  produces  at  a  distance  :  no  church  indeed  ought  to  be  built 
without  one ;  a  village  spire  is  always  picturesque,  and  awakens 
pleasing  emotions ;  and  the  effect  of  steeples  and  domes,  in  giving  an 
air  of  animation  and  grandeur  to  a  town,  may  be  judged  of  nega- 
tively, by  seeing  what  a  dull,  lifeless,  unmeaning  aspect,  Philadelphia 
presents  to  the  observer  without,  though  it  is  such  a  handsome  city 
within.  The  next  alteration  was  to  change  the  form  to  an  octagon, 
a  figure  which  is  appropriate  enough  for  a  crystal,  but  is  an  absurdity 
in  architecture.  The  portico  was  Doric,  but  these  columns,  though 
made  of  wood,  were  with  an  Ionic  proportion  !  thus  mutilating  and 
destroying  its  whole  beauty.  To  remedy  this  glaring  fault,  an  ad- 
dition which  does  not  belong  to  the  order  was  put  on  at  the  bottom, 
to  diminish  their  dyspeptic  appearance,  that  only  increased  the  dis- 
order. If  it  had  been  proposed  to  paint  one  red,  one  green,  one 
blue,  one  yellow,  it  would  have  been  scoffed  at  as  absurd ;  and  yet 
it  would  have  been  a  less  grievous  blunder  than  has  been  committed 
now,  for  it  is  not  uncommon  in  Italy  to  see  columns  of  different 
coloured  marbles  in  the  same  edifice,  where  the  proportions  are  all 
alike.  Fortunately  these  deformed  columns  are  of  wood,  and  must 
soon  grow  shabby.  They  will  then  perhaps  be  replaced  by  columns 
of  the  Nova  Scotia  freestone,  which  is  easily  worked,  and  is  now 
getting  into  use  here  for  every  thing  where  the  chisel  is  required." 
Vide  North  American  Review,  No.  XXVIIL  Pp.  86—88. 


BATTERY — BAY.  33 

excused  ali  hough  they  overrate  a  little  what  they 
possess.  n"he  only  other  portions  are  the  Bowling 
Green,  p^~  the  Battery.  The  Bowling  Green  is  a 
small  oval  enclosure,  at  the  lower  end  of  Broadway, 
in  the  centre  of  which  once  stood  a  leaden  statue  of 
our  good  old  king ;  but  when  the  natives  threw  off 
their  allegiance  to  George  the  Third,  they  turned 
his  representative  into  bullets,  and  fired  them  at  his 
troops.  The  Battery  is  a  stripe  of  ground  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  island,  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  in  length,  which  in  the  days  of  the  Dutch 
governors  was  the  site  of  an  earthen  breast  work, 
over  which  a  few  pieces  of  cannon  presented  them- 
selves to  the  vessels  coming  up  the  bay ;  but  the  em- 
bankment has  long  been  levelled  and  the  guns 
thrown  aside.  It  is  now  covered  with  a  verdant 
turf,  and  shaded  by  the  branching  foliage  of  nu- 
merous trees ;  with  a  modern  stone  fort,  of  great 
strength,  projecting  from  one  corner  of  it  into  the 
water. 

In  a  summer  evening  the  battery  is  a  deservedly 
favourite  promenade,  and  the  prospect  which  it 
affords  is  very  rarely  to  be  equalled.  The  noble 
bay  expands  before  it;  bounded,  on  the  left  by 
the  sloping  hills  and  valleys  of  Long  Island,  in 
front  by  the  Narrows  about  ten  miles  off,  and  on 
the  right  by  the  shores  of  New*  Jersey.  Two  or 
three  forts  appear,  upon  as  many  islands,  arid  vessels 
of  every  size,  from  the  seventy-four  gun  ship,  to 
the  sloop,  at  anchor  or  under  sail.  The  cliffs  of 


34  LETTER  II. NEW  YORK. 

some  stately  mountain  are  almost  all  that  could  be 
desired  to  complete  the  landscape.  A  native  of 
New  York  listens  with  impatience  to  the  praises  of 
the  bay  of  Naples,  and  it  is  said  that  some  who 
have  seen  both,  have  expressed  some  hesitation  as 
to  which  deserves  the  palm.  I  suspect  that  Vesu- 
vius is  more  than  sufficient  to  turn  the  balance. 

Long  Island  is  a  favourite  summer  resort  of  the 
inhabitants  of  New  York,  the  climate  is  salubrious, 
and  there  are  numerous  villages  at  short  distances 
along  the  shore.  Among  these  is  Rockaway,  for 
some  time  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Graham.  As  yet 
I  have  only  visited  Brooklyn,  a  rapidly  growing 
little  town  immediately  opposite  to  New  York,  with 
which  a  steam  ferry-boat  affords  the  means  of  easy 
communication.  The  ground  upon  which  it  stands, 
with  all  around  it,  was  long  the  patrimonial  inherit- 
ance of  a  race  of  contented  Dutchmen,  who,  hating 
innovation  and  restlessness,  peacefully  gathered 
apples  or  drove  their  cows  to  grass,  where  there 
forefathers  had  done  the  same.  At  last  one,  more 
adventurous  than  his  fellows,  perhaps  from  an  in- 
termixture of  New  England  blood  which  is  now 
forgotten,  ventured  to  break  up  a  portion  of  his 
farm  for  building  ground,  in  despite  of  shrewd 
shakings  of  the  head,  and  ominous  prognostications 
of  disaster.  Now  streets  after  streets  cross  each 
other,  and  a  populous  suburb  is  shooting  up  apace ; 
while  a  little  above  it  the  United  States  have  estab- 
lished a  navy  yard,  and  are  building  ships  of  war. 


NAVY  YARD — STEAM    FRIGATE.  35 

The  navy  yard  is  most  conveniently  placed  upon 
the  bank  of  a  commodious  little  bay,  opening  into 
the  Sound,  where  vessels  of  the  largest  class  may 
float  in  safety.  Here  lies  the  famous  steam  frigate, 
4  Fulton  the  First',  dismantled  and  roofed  in ;  which 
through  the  kind  offices  of  a  friend  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  visiting.  On  the  stocks  in  the 
yard  is  a  seventy-four  gun  ship,  to  be  larger  than 
any  of  that  class  that  have  yet  been  launched ;  she 
will  carry  at  least  90  guns,  and  it  is  said  that  they 
are  to  be  all  forty-two  pounders.3 

'  Fulton  the  First'  is  a  most  singular  machine ; 
in  shape  pretty  nearly  an  oblong  octagon,  rounded 
off  a  little  at  the  corners.  A  most  tortoise-looking 
man  of  war.  We  entered  by  a  gun  port  upon  her 
principal  deck,  and  carefully  explored  every  nook 
to  which  we  could  find  admittance.  Since  visiting 
her  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  reading  an  official 
description,  by  the  commissioners  who  superin- 
tended her  while  building,  and  the  following  com- 
bines what  I  saw,  with  the  information  which  that 
document  affords  ;4  the  accuracy  of  the  details  may, 
I  believe,  be  relied  on. 

The  steam  frigate  is  a  double  boat,  resting  upon 
two  keels,  with  an  intervening  space,  156  feet  long 
and  15  feet  wide,  in  which  the  paddle  wheel  re- 
volves ;  this  is  carefully  covered  in,  so  as  to  be  as 

3  She  has  since  been  launched  and  is  named  the  Ohio. 
*  This  is  to  be  found  in  one  of  the  early  numbers  of  Constable's 
Magazine,  but  I  cannot  at  present  ascertain  which. 


36  LETTER  II. NEW  YORK. 

much  as  possible  unapproachable  by  shot.  The 
wheel  has  a  free  motion  both  ways  upon  its  axis, 
so  that  it  can  propel  the  vessel  with  either  end 
foremost :  for  this  purpose  each  individual  boat  has 
two  rudders,  one  at  each  end,  which  are  also  care- 
fully defended ;  each  pair  acts  simultaneously,  and 
when  the  pair  at  one  end  is  in  operation,  the  other- 
is  secured  so  as  to  offer  no  obstruction  to  the  ves- 
sel's progress.  She  carries  two  bowsprits  and  two 
masts,  which  are  intended  to  bear  what  are  called 
latteen  sails.5  The  rigging  formed  no  part  of  the 
original  design,  but  was  added  at  the  suggestion  of 
Captain  Porter  who  had  been  appointed  to  her 
command.  The  sides  are  four  feet  ten  inches 
thick,  composed  of  four  thicknesses  of  oak  tim- 
ber, alternately  vertical  and  horizontal.  Her  gun 
ports,  thirty  in  number,  are  all  on  the  principal 
deck,  and  go  completely  round  both  ends  of  the 
vessel,  so  that  if  necessary  her  shot  can  fly  si- 
multaneously at  every  angle  like  radii  from  the 
centre  of  a  circle.  She  carries  thirty-two  pound- 
ers, some  of  which  are  in  the  carriages ;  with  these 
she  is  intended  to  throw  red  hot  shot,  for  prepar- 
ing which  she  is  amply  provided  with  furnaces. 
Fulton  also  intended  that  she  should  carry  upon 
her  upper  deck  four  Columbiads,  as  they  are  called, 
enormous  guns  capable  of  discharging  a  ball  of  a 

5  Three  cornered  sails,  bent  upon  a  long  yard,  which  crosses  the 
mast  angularly,  and  common  in  small  vessels  about  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

9 


STEAM   FRIGATE.  37 

hundred  pounds  weight,  into  an  enemy's  vessel, 
under  the  water  mark.  At  present  however  her 
upper  deck  is  without  any  armament,  but  sur- 
rounded with  a  strong  bulwark.  The  officers'  ca- 
bins are  in  the  centre  of  the  vessel,  on  the  main 
deck.  The  steam1  boilers  are  contained  in  the  one 
boat,  and  the  engine  in  the  other,  but  of  their  ap- 
pearance or  that  of  the  paddle  wheel,  I  can  say  no- 
thing, as  the  whole  were  completely  shut  up. 

Room  is  left  for  a  machine  which  Fulton  pur- 
posed to  add,  capable  of  discharging  with  great 
force  an  incessant  stream  of  water  either  hot  or 
cold,  which  it  was  anticipated  would  completely  in- 
undate an  enemy's  armament  and  ammunition,  if  it 
did  not  also  destroy  the  men.  Our  newspapers, 
copying  the  marvellous  reports  which  were  afloat 
respecting  her,  assured  their  readers  that  this  non- 
descript man  of  war  was  to  brandish  along  its  sides 
some  hundreds  of  cutlasses  and  boarding  pikes,  and 
vomit  boiling  pitch  on  her  unfortunate  antagonists ; 
these  however  are  poetical  exaggerations.  Her 
machinery  impels  her  at  the  rate  of  five  and  a  half 
knots  an  hour,  and  her  inventor  felt  confident 
that  in  a  calm,  or  light  breeze,  no  seventy-four 
would  be  a  match  for  her.  It  was  even  hoped,  that 
she  might  have  been  able  to  raise  the  blockade  of 
New  London,  which  was  long  carefully  watched  by 
a  British  squadron,  could  her  energies  have  been 
brought  into  timely  operation. 

The  commissioners  were  harassed  with  numer- 

VOL.  I.  D 


38  LETTER  II. NEW  YORK. 

ous  obstacles  in  getting  her  constructed,  and  their 
difficulties  give  a  pretty  lively  idea  of  the  distress 
which  generally  prevailed  throughout  the  country. 
Our  vessels  kept  the  whole  of  the  sea  coast  in  a 
state  of  close  blockade,  and  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  building  materials*  could  be  got  for 
her.  Timber,  copper,  iron,  lead,  and  coal,  required 
to  be  imported  from  distant  parts  of  the  Union,  or 
from  foreign  countries,  and  the  vigilance  of  our 
cruisers  allowed  so  little  to  escape,  that  they  were 
all  scarce  and  enormously  expensive.  Ship  car- 
penters had  been  sent  off  in  such  numbers  to  the 
lakes,  and  so  many  stragglers  had  volunteered  into 
the  army  and.navy,  that  workmen  could  scarcely  be 
procured,  and  only  for  very  high  wages.  When 
she  was  launched,  no  artillery  of  a  suitable  de- 
scription was  to  be  found  in  New  York ;  but  a  Brit- 
ish prize  was  opportunely  brought  into  Philadel- 
phia, and  twenty  of  her  guns  were  dragged  round 
through  the  deep  roads  of  New  Jersey.  The  state 
of  public  credit  was  another  source  of  embarrass- 
ment. The  commissioners  were  supplied  by  gov- 
ernment with  treasury  notes,  which  were  then  at 
a  considerable  discount,  but  which  they  were  posi- 
tively forbidden  to  pay  away  under  par.  Even  this 
depreciated  'paper  was  occasionally  so  long  with- 
held, that  they  had  in  some  cases  to  pledge  their 
private  credit,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  the 
men  at  one  time  actually  broke  off  from  working ; 
while  those  who  had  furnished  building  materials 


STEAM  FRIGATE.  39 

were  discontented  and  importunate.  These  inter- 
ruptions were  chiefly  felt  in  the  latter  part  of  1814, 
and  they  continued  till  winter  made  it  impossible 
for  the  vessel  to  act,  even  had  she  been  finished. 
Peace,  which  was  concluded  early  next  year, 
rendered  her  for  the  present  useless,  and  it  was 
thought  unnecessary  to  furnish  her  with  a  full 
equipment;  but  the  commissioners  persevered  in 
completing  her  construction,  and  in  June  she  made 
the  first  trial  of  her  machinery.  On  a  subsequent 
occasion  she  made  a  trip  to  Sandy  Hook,  with  a 
considerable  part  of  her  artillery  and  stores  on 
board,  saluting  the  forts  as  she  passed  them ;  and 
the  last  occasion  on  which  her  powers  were  put  in 
requisition,  was  when  the  present  President,  Mr. 
Munroe,  made  an  official  tour  through  the  Union. 
I  have  endeavoured  to  ascertain  whether  as  much 
confidence  is  reposed  in  her  powers  as  to  realize 
the  anticipations  of  her  projector,  and  to  justify 
the  panegyrics  of  the  newspapers  ;  but  I  am  led  to 
think,  that  considerable  doubt  prevails  as  to  the 
possibility  of  working  her,  so  as  to  make  her  effi- 
cient against  an  enemy's  vessel.  Fulton  died  be- 
fore her  engine  was  put  on  board ;  had  he  lived  to 
superintend  its  complete  adjustment,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say  to  what  degree  of  perfection  he  might 
have  brought  it,  but  his  biographer  acknowledges 
that  there  are,  at  present,  great  and  obvious  defects 
in  her  machinery.  During  the  trial  voyages  va- 
rious inconveniences  were  experienced,  one  of  these 

Tk    9. 


40  LETTER  II. NEW  YORK. 

was  the  heat  of  the  furnaces,  which  is  so  insup- 
portable, that  the  engine-men  cannot  remain  beside 
them  for  more  than  a  minute  or  two  at  a  time.  In 
the  confusion  and  bustle  of  an  action  it  would 
probably  be  found  extremely  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible, to  regulate,  with  deliberation  and  coolness, 
the  many  complicated  operations  which  would  be 
necessary  in  such  a  machine ;  and  where  so  much 
internal  combustion  is  going  forward,  the  slightest 
inattention  or  accident  in  managing  the  powder, 
might  be  instantaneously  fatal  to  all  on  board. 
Should  they  succeed  in  overcoming  these  difficul- 
ties, and  acquire  that  expertness  in  her  manage- 
ment which  practice  alone  can  be  expected  to  pro- 
duce, we  can  scarcely  imagine  for  a  bay  or  harbour, 
a  more  powerful  instrument  of  attack  or  defence. 
Independent  of  wind  or  tide,  she  could  plough  her 
way  under  an  enemy's  stern,  or  across  his  bows, 
and  vomit  forth  her  flaming  balls,  wherever  the  foe 
was  most  vulnerable ;  while  the  reverting  of  the 
paddle  wheel  would  instantly  relieve  her  from 
a  wrong  position,  without  the  delay  of  working 
round,  and  the  enormous  thickness  of  her  sides 
would  render  any  but  the  largest  guns  inefficient 
upon  her  timbers.  c 

The  commissioners  in  their  last  report  recom- 
mended, that,  notwithstanding  the  peace,  she  should 
be  commissioned  and  sent  to  sea,  that  officers  and 
men  might  be  trained  to  her  management,  and 
that  defects  in  her  construction,  might  be  discov- 


STEAM  FRIGATE.  41 

ered  and  obviated ;  but  this  recommendation  could 
only  have  been  complied  with  at  an  expense  which 
would  ill  agree  with  American  ideas  of  economy, 
and  here  she  lies,  slumbering  in  ignoble  indolence 
and  security.  I  would  add  with  all  my  heart, 
Requiescat  in  pace! 


LETTER  III. 

BOSTON —  LOCAL     CHARACTERISTICS  —  MALL  —  STATE    HOUSE — ' 

CELEBRATION     OF     THE      FOURTH      OF     JULY  ANNIVERSARY 

ORATION — VISIT  TO  A   SEVENTY-FOUR   GUN    SHIP PROCESSION 

OF     FREE     NEGROES LUNATIC    ASYLUM PENITENTIARY 

AMERICAS      PRISON      DISCIPLINE  HARVARD     UNIVERSITY  

NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW BOSTON  ATHENAEUM HONOURABLE 

ACT  OF  BENEVOLENCE STATE  OF  RELIGION SERMONS HEAT 

OF  THE  WEATHER — FROG  CONCERT — FIREFLIES. 

Boston,  July,   1818. 

DURING  the  period  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
date  of  my  former  letter,  I  have  traversed  several 
hundred  miles  of  this  western  continent,  and  after 
visiting  both  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  have  ar- 
rived by  a  circuitous  route  in  Boston;  I  delay 
however,  for  the  present,  giving  any  account  of  my 
Canadian  travels,  as  it  is  probable  that  a  better 
opportunity  will  afterwards  occur,  and  proceed 
rather  to  make  you  somewhat  acquainted  with  the 
ancient  capital  of  New  England. 

Boston  occupies  a  small  peninsula  in  Massa- 
chusetts bay,  and  possesses  a  safe  and  commodious 
harbour,  strongly  defended  from  maritime  attacks. 
The  commerce  of  Boston  is  very  considerable; 
probably  in  this  respect  it  ranks  as  the  fourth  city 
in  the  United  States,  for  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  I  believe  New  Orleans,  are  before  it. 


46  LETTER    III. BOSTON. 

The  town  has  outgrown  the  limits  of  the  position 
which  it  occupies,  and  Charlestown  upon  an  oppo- 
site peninsula,  and  South  Boston  upon  the  main 
land,  may  be  regarded  as  integral  parts  of  the  city. 
Circumscribed,  however,  as  they  are,  the  citizens 
have  had  the  good  taste  to  reserve  a  park  of  up- 
wards of  forty  acres,  upon  which  no  buildings  have 
been  allowed  to  encroach.  The  Mall,  as  this  is 
called,  is  surrounded  with  spreading  elms,  and  is  the 
finest  that  is  to  be  found  within  the  limits  of  any 
considerable  town  in  the  United  States.  It  would 
be  needless  to  remark  how  much  it  contributes  to 
the  beauty  of  the  town,  and  the  comfort  of  the  in- 
habitants, were  it  not  that  so  simple  and  so  obvious 
an  ornament  is  strangely  overlooked  in  the  larger 
American  cities,  notwithstanding  the  abundance  of 
elbow  room  which  all  of  them  enjoy. 

Boston  has  much  more  of  the  appearance  of  a 
British  town  than  New  York.  Many  of  the  build- 
ings are  of  a  fine  white  granite,  and  most  of  the 
others  are  of  brick ;  the  streets  are  very  compactly 
built,  and  although  many  are  narrow  and  crooked, 
all  exhibit  a  degree  of  order  and  cleanliness  which 
will  in  vain  be  looked  for  in  New  York.  On  a 
finely  rising  ground  at  the  upper  part  of  the  Mall, 
stands  the  State  House,  a  building  of  humbler  pre- 
tensions as  to  size  and  materials  than  the  New 
York  City  Hall,  but  in  situation  and  architectural 
outline  greatly  superior.  It  is  nearly  square ;  in 
front  is  a  lofty  projecting  colonnade  of  the  Corin- 


STATE  HOUSE FOURTH  OF  JULY.  47 

thian  order,  twelve  columns  in  length,  springing 
from  a  piazza  of  rusticated  arches,  but  unhappily 
bearing  only  a  balustrade,  over  which  rises  a  small 
attic  story  with  a  pediment;  and  overtopping  all 
is  a  large  circular  dome  terminated  by  a  small 
square  lantern.  From  the  lantern  of  the  State 
House  a  most  commanding  view  is  obtained  of  the 
surrounding  country.  In  front  is  Boston  bay, 
studded  with  nearly  forty  islands,  with  fortifications 
and  a  light  house ;  the  shores  which  surround  its 
ample  basin,  advancing  and  receding  with  most 
capricious  irregularity,  and  forming  numerous 
capes  and  peninsulas,  on  one  of  the  largest  of  which 
is  the  city.  The  vast  amphitheatre  around  the  bay 
exhibits  a  country  richly  variegated  with  hill  and 
valley,  immense  forests  and  cultivated  ground ;  and 
sprinkled  with  about  twenty  little  towns  of  snowy 
whiteness,  among  which  a  dozen  of  spires  may  be 
counted. 

The  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  national  independence,  took  place 
since  my  arrival  here;  but  the  public  demonstra- 
tions of  joy  were,  in  most  respects,  so  similar  to  those 
with  which  we  hail  our  king's  birth  day  that  a  very 
minute  detail  of  them  is  unnecessary.  In  the 
morning  the  national  banner  was  displayed  from 
all  the  public  buildings,  and  from  the  masts  of 
the  vessels  in  the  harbour.  The  Independence  of 
seventy- four  guns,  and  the  Guerriere  of  forty-four, 
were  both  at  anchor  in  the  bay;  the  former  of 


48  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

which  was  profusely  decorated  with  colours,  and 
each,  at  noon,  fired  a  salute  of  twenty  guns.  In  the 
Mall  were  numerous  booths,  where  refreshments  of 
various  kinds  found  ready  customers,  but  I  thought 
this  system  of  punch-drinking  little  calculated 
to  sustain  the  dignity  of  the  festival.  The  militia 
and  volunteers  of  the  city  and  neighbourhood  par- 
aded in  the  forenoon  and  fired  &feu  de  joie.  The 
volunteers  resembled  very  much  those  at  home, 
excepting  that  in  place  of  being  collected  into  one 
respectable  battalion  they  consisted  entirely  of  in- 
dependent companies  of  fifty  or  sixty  men;  each 
company  had  a  different  uniform,  blue,  red,  or 
white,  and  no  way  remarkable  for  neatness  of 
make  or  decoration.  It  seems  strange  that  they 
should  choose  a  system  of  training,  which  prevents 
them  from  ever  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  battalion 
movements,  and  could  in  the  event  of  active  ser- 
vice produce  nothing  but  confusion.  The  Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  received  the  congratula- 
tions of  the  various  public  functionaries,  and  dis- 
tinguished citizens,  and  sat  down,  with  above  four 
hundred  persons,  to  a  cold  collation  which  was 
served  up  in  the  principal  room  of  the  State  House. 
The  apartment  was  decorated  with  banners  of  va- 
rious kinds,  disposed  in  tasteful  festoons  upon  the 
walls ;  and  the  pillars  which  support  the  roof  were 
encircled  by  a  double  row  of  muskets  and  bayonets, 
the  upper  ones  inverted  and  the  bayonet  points 
meeting  each  other.  The  whole  had  a  very  im- 


FOURTH  OF  JULY.  49 

posing  effect.  After  the  entertainment  the  Governor 
and  his  guests  walked  in  procession  from  the  hall, 
and  the  chaplain  for  the  day,  a  Baptist  minister, 
walked  conspicuously  by  himself  dressed  in  full 
canonicals. 

In  the  forenoon  an  oration  was  pronounced,  in 
accordance  with  annual  custom,  on  the  subject 
of  the  national  independence,  and  the  causes  which 
led  to  it.  This  is  in  every  point  of  view  well  cal- 
culated to  perpetuate  those  principles  of  liberty, 
to  which  the  nation  owes  its  existence;  to  fan 
the  spark  of  patriotism,  and  foster  that  love  of 
country,  which  has  been  the  theme  of  the  poet  and 
the  orator  in  all  ages.  I  unfortunately  did  not 
hear  of  this  oration,  until  after  it  had  been  deli- 
vered ;  I  have  however  lost  only  the  effect  produced 
by  it  on  the  audience,  for  the  speech  itself  has  been 
published. 

The  orator  was  a  Mr.  Gray,  and  his  address  is 
more  characterised  by  plain  good  sense,  than  by 
declamatory  brilliancy.  It  has  the  merit  of  being 
free  from  that  vituperative  abuse  of  Great  Britain, 
in  which  mere  mob  orators  in  the  United  States 
are  prone  to  indulge,  and  which,  I  am  afraid,  is 
sometimes  a  cheap  substitute  for  purity  of  principle 
and  good  citizenship.  America  has  undoubtedly 
been  wronged  by  Great  Britain,  at  many  times, 
and  in  many  ways,  but  these  wrongs  have  been 
productive  upon  the  whole  of  only  temporary  evil, 
while  the  benefits  which  she  has  derived  from  the 
VOL.  i.  E 


50  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

same  source  pervade  her  whole  system ;  give  sinews 
to  her  strength,  wisdom  to  her  councils,  intelligence 
to  her  people,  and  dignity  to  her  national  character. 
But  for  these  she  could  never  have  either  achieved  or 
maintained  her  independence,  and  were  it  possible 
to  separate  from  her  population,  all   that  has  been 
derived  from  the  laws,  institutions,   and  literature 
of  my  native  country,  personal  liberty,  security  of 
property,  freedom  of  thinking  and  of  speech,   and 
last  of  all,  true  and  vital  religion,  with  all  the  moral 
effects  which  have  flowed  from  these,  would  vanish 
like  a  dream,  and  an  American  contemplating  the 
dreary    void,    would   have    good    reason    to    sigh, 
"  Fuimus  Troes!"      Few,   probably,    of  sober  re- 
flection and  impartiality  will  be  found  to  deny  the 
truth  of  these  positions;  then  why  should  Britain 
be  hated  by  an  American? — why  should  he  not 
rather    overlook    a    little  of  that  feeling  towards 
the  United  States,   which  was  scarcely  separable 
from  the  circumstances  in  which  the  two  countries 
were  placed  by  the  revolution,   and  was  too  long 
kept  alive  by  errors  in  the  conduct  of  both  govern- 
ments,  towards  each  other;  but  the  inveteracy  of 
which  is  now,  I  trust,  rapidly  decreasing,  and  will 
soon  be  remembered  only   as  a  subject  of  regret, 
and  a  powerful  reason  for  future  kindliness  and 
friendship.     It  is  the  characteristic  of  noble  minds 
to  forgive  injuries;   and  with  all  our  faults,  there  is 
confessedly  so  much  in  our  national  character  de- 
serving  of  respect,   and   even   of  imitation,    that 


ANNIVERSARY  ORATION.  51 

Americans  must  certainly  be  themselves  in  no  small 
degree  of  error,  if  they  do  not  feel  a  warmth  of 
affection  towards  their  parent  country. 

Mr.  Gray's  speech  is  probably  rather  a  favour- 
able specimen  of  the  anniversary  orations  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  and  a  specimen  or  two  of  its  con- 
tents may  not  be  uninteresting. 

"  This,"  says  the  orator  in  commencement,  "  is 
a  glorious  but  a  solemn  day.  Set  apart  for  the 
celebration  of  independence,  a  common  object  of 
enjoyment  and  solicitude  to  us  all,  it  ought  not  to 
be  disturbed  by  controversy,  nor  wasted  in  mere 
exultation.  It  should  remind  us  of  our  high  re- 
sponsibility, as  well  as  our  distinguished  bless- 
ings ;  and  direct  our  attention  to  the  origin  of  the 
national  privilege  now  commemorated,  since  this, 
like  others,  can  neither  be  appreciated  nor  pre- 
served, without  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  on 
which  it  is  founded,  and  the  means  by  which  it 
was  established.  This  duty  of  recurring  frequently 
to  the  establishment  of  our  independence,  fortu- 
nately perhaps  for  its  performance,  is  also  a  tri- 
umph; for  there  is  not  on  record  a  revolution  more 
sound  in  principle,  more  temperate  in  conduct, 
more  beneficial  in  result. 

"  The  encroachments  of  the  British  government 
on  the  liberty  of  the  Colonists  were  the  commence- 
ment of  our  revolution.  But  these  cannot  be  as- 
signed as  its  cause ;  oppression  not  being  of  itself 
sufficient  to  produce  liberty.  Many  nations  have 
E  2 


52  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

borne  a  heavier  yoke  than  that  which  it  was  at- 
tempted to  impose  on  this,  and  uttered  no  murmur; 
some  have  had  the  impatience  to  complain,  without 
the  courage  to  resist ;  while  a  few  have  been  goaded 
into  desperation,  only  to  waste  their  strength  in  ill- 
directed  and  ineffectual  struggles,  and  to  fall  at 
last  feebler  victims.  Nor  are  we  indebted  for  in- 
dependence to  the  peculiar  talents  of  the  individ- 
uals, illustrious  as  they  were,  who  placed  themselves 
in  the  front  of  danger,  as  the  guides  and  leaders 
of  the  people.  Men  determined  to  be  free,  will 
never  want  a  leader  to  freedom,  and  those  willing 
to  endure  despotism  will  never  follow  one.  Ex- 
hortations to  resist,  as  well  as  commands  to  obey, 
are  dependent  for  their  effect,  on  the  temper  and 
character  of  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed. 
It  is  undoubtedly  the  conviction  of  this  truth, 
which  has  induced  you  to  select  for  the  topic  of 
the  orations  annually  pronounced  before  you,  not 
the  injustice  of  your  enemies,  not  the  talents  and 
virtues  of  the  great  men  who  occupied  the  posts  of 
danger  and  of  glory,  during  the  struggle  for  the 
establishment  of  independence;  but  the  feelings, 
manners,  and  principles,  which  led  to  that  event." 

He  then  traces  the  origin  of  the  feelings  which 
led  the  Colonists  to  declare  themselves  inde- 
pendent, to  that  spirit  of  reformation  which  per- 
vaded Europe  when  their  forefathers  emigrated 
from  its  shores ;  and  more  especially  to  the  self- 
devoted  enthusiasm  of  the  Puritans,  which  led  them 


ANNIVERSARY  ORATION.  53 

to  abandon  home  with  all  its  endearing  ties  and 
recollections,  that  they  might  enjoy  the  yet  dearer 
treasure,  unfettered  liberty  of  conscience.  These 
principles  regulated  the  system  of  government 
which  they  adopted  on  landing  in  the  American 
wilds,  and  produced  that  simplicity  of  manners, 
general  diffusion  of  education,  equal  distribution  of 
property,  and  persevering  firmness  of  purpose, 
which  characterized  the  early  settlers;  while  these 
peculiarities,  in  their  turn,  all  tended  directly  to 
cherish  the  spirit  of  manly  independence. 

He  next  states  the  grand  principle  of  all  repre- 
sentative governments,  that  the  people  is  the  source 
of  legitimate  power; — shows  how  this  was  disre- 
garded by  the  supreme  government  in  its  conduct 
towards  the  colonies,  and  alludes  to  the  discontent, 
disobedience,  and  resistance,  which  successively 
arose  from  it.  He  then  notices  in  terms  of  glow- 
ing commendation  the  moderation,  firmness,  and 
prudence  of  their  forefathers,  and  reminds  them  of 
the  high  responsibility  under  which  their  children 
lie,  to  preserve  what  they  had  won,  and  to  profit 
by  the  enjoyment  of  it. 

•  The  means  by  which  this  is  to  be  effected,  are 
next  adverted  to  by  the  orator,  and  he  calls  upon 
them  to  foster  their  religious  and  literary  institu- 
tions, and  carefully  to  protect  their  political  system. 
"  Let  your  constitution,"  says  he,  "  be  scrupu- 
lously respected  and  preserved ;  touch  it  not  rashly 
and  irreverently  even  for  a  good  purpose.  Let  it 
E  3 


54  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

be  a  holy  thing ;  a  common  object  of  universal 
attachment;  something  fixed  and  stable,  to  be  a 
rallying  point  in  every  disturbance,  and  to  concen- 
trate at  all  times  the  affections  of  the  people.  Ra- 
ther than  accustom  yourselves  to  trifling  innova- 
tions in  it,  submit  to  slight  and  temporary  incon- 
venience. It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  render  even 
our  prejudices,  for  men  will  have  prejudices,  con- 
ducive to  our  happiness.  If  it  should  not  be 
lightly  altered,  still  less  should  it  be  made  the 
mere  tool  of  convenience  and  expediency  by  forced 
constructions.  This  would  expose  it  to  contempt ; 
and  when  it  ceases  to  be  respected,  how  can  it  be 
obeyed  ?  It  is  your  duty  not  only  to  preserve  the 
form  of  your  political  institutions,  but  to  maintain 
their  spirit,  and  to  watch  over  their  administration. 
The  example  of  your  ancestors  will  teach  you  to 
intrust  the  direction  of  public  affairs,  not  to  the 
men  who  prefer  your  pleasure  to  your  interest,  and 
their  own  aggrandizement  to  both;  who  rush  into 
the  front  rank  of  popular  impetuosity,  that  they 
may  seem  to  be  its  leaders ;  and  rise  highest  in  the 
whirlwind  of  passion,  that  they  may  have  the  glory 
of  appearing  to  direct  the  storm;  but  to  those  who 
seek  to  enlighten,  not  to  inflame,  who  merit  con- 
fidence by  their  integrity,  and  wisdom,  and  expe- 
rience, in  public  service ;  who  respect  the  opinions, 
and  the  very  prejudices  of  the  people,  but  disdain 
to  flatter  either  their  passions  or  their  vanity,  or 
to  make  public  duty  subservient  to  private  interest 


ANNIVERSARY  ORATION.  55 

or  ambition ;  who  do  not  court  office,  nor  solicit 
honour,  but  avoid  no  task,  and  shrink  from  no 
responsibility,  properly  imposed  on  them."  These 
you  must  do,  much  more  you  may  do.  "  Spare  no 
exertions  to  improve  the  arts,  and  extend  the 
sciences,  and  polish  the  literature  of  America." 
Keep  free  from  the  political  broils  of  other  nations. 
"  The  conviction  that  the  security  of  a  free  govern- 
ment is  to  be  sought  only  in  the  situation,  habits, 
and  temper  of  the  community,  will  deter  you  from 
the  chimerical  idea  of  liberating  other  countries 
by  force ;  and  teach  you  that  the  subversion  of  a 
throne,  is  not  necessarily  the  establishment  of  a 
republic ;  that  a  nation  trained  up  to  servitude  can- 
not be  made  free  by  breaking  the  bonds  of  govern- 
ment, nor  derive  lasting  benefit  from  any  revolu- 
tion which  does  not  begin  in  the  character  of  the 
people ;  and  that  the  true  deliverers  of  men  suffer- 
ing under  long  established  despotism,  are  those 
who  instruct  them."  The  knowledge  of  this  truth, 
he  remarks,  will  prevent  needless  apprehensions. 
Republican  governments  are  not  without  their  in- 
conveniences and  imperfections  ; — their  rulers  may 
be  guilty  of  errors  or  of  crimes ; — but  there  is  in- 
herent vigour  to  survive  the  effects  of  these,  and 
they  must  and  will  happen  without  either  their 
liberties  being  lost  or  their  constitution  subverted. 
"  Would  you  know,"  says  he  in  conclusion,  "  when 
you  may  despair  ?  When  the  institutions  of  your 
ancestors  are  neglected,  their  example  forgotten. 


56  LETTER    III. — BOSTON. 

their  sentiments  abandoned,  their  ma  mers  per- 
verted, their  principles  betrayed;  when  religion 
and  learning  are  ridiculed  and  despised ;  when  all 
independence  of  sentiment  is  lost,  and  the  rich 
trample  on  the  rights  of  others  from  pride,  or  the 
poor  from  rapacity ;  when  you  dread  the  voice  of 
truth,  and  have  no  ear  but  for  your  own  praises ; 
when  men  distinguished  by  talents,  moderation, 
and  integrity,  are  objects  of  suspicion ;  when  dis- 
union renders  you  a  military  people,  and  thus  pre- 
pares you  to  submit  to  the  dominion  of  force ;  or 
luxury  bows  your  necks  to  the  still  more  degrad- 
ing yoke  of  corruption;  then  is  your  liberty  de- 
stroyed, then  are  your  constitutions  a  dead  letter, 
then  is  the  nation  ruined.  But  I  trust  in  God,  that 
neither  you  nor  your  children  will  behold  that  day." 

Such  is  the  republican  oration  of  Mr.  Gray,  and  I 
see  little  in  it  which  even  a  monarchist  could  brand 
as  political  heresy.  While  we  regard  only  human 
means,  there  can  I  think  be  little  doubt  that  king- 
doms as  well  as  republics  will  be  stable  or  insecure, 
in  proportion  as  its  sentiments  are  respected  or 
disregarded. 

The  evening  of  this  national  anniversary  closed 
with  another  salute  from  the  two  ships  of  war,  and 
a  few  voluntary  rockets  and  other  fire  works.  I 
saw  no  rioting  or  turn  ult  in  the  streets,  nor  did  I 
hear  of  any  giving  scope  and  illustration  to  their 
democratic  patriotism,  by  breaking  lamps  and  win- 
dows, or  insulting  peaceable  inhabitants. 


SEVENTY-FOUR  GUN  SHIP.  57 

The  na\al  events  of  the  last  unhappy  rupture 
between  the  nations  made  me  desirous  of  seeing  an 
American  ship  of  war,  and  I  have  had  this  desire 
gratified  in  a  visit  to  the  Independence  of  seventy- 
four  guns.  The  Guerriere,  which  is  anchored  be- 
side her,  was  built  as  you  may  guess  from  the  name 
to  commemorate  one  of  our  losses  during  last 
war;  she  is  a  fine  looking  vessel  and  is  about  to 
carry  out  Mr.  Campbell,  the  American  Ambassador, 
to  Russia.  My  conductor  in  this  visit  was  an 
American  army  officer,  and  probably  to  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  officers  of  the  Independence 
we  were  indebted  for  the  honour  of  being  taken  on 
board  in  a  twelve-oared  boat.  A  marine  on  duty 
at  the  gangway  carried  arms  when  we  stepped  on 
deck,  and  the  boatswain  greeted  us  with  his  whistle. 
The  Independence,  like  all  the  other  American 
ships  of  war,  has  no  poop  deck,  but  is  perfectly 
level  fore  and  aft; — this  though  less  convenient  to 
the  officers,  so  far  as  regards  their  cabin  accommo- 
dations, is  thought  to  give  advantages  in  working 
the  vessel,  and  imparts  to  the  deck  an  appearance 
of  amplitude  and  neatness.  The  eye  without  diffi- 
culty runs  along  the  graceful  slope,  and  takes  in  at 
one  glance  the  various  objects  which  present  them- 
selves ; — the  bulwarks  and  hammock  nettings,  the 
guns  lashed  to  the  sides,  the  wheel,  the  capstan 
stuck  full  of  cutlasses,  the  masts,  the  windlass,  and 
the  hatchways ;  all  are  seen  and  their  relations  at 
once  understood,  while  every  thing  seems  arranged 


58  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

so  as  best  to  secure  rapidity  and  regularity  in  a  storm 
or  an  engagement.  On  the  upper  deck  of  the  Inde- 
pendence is  the  Captain's  cabin,  but  Commodore 
Bainbridge  her  commander  was  not  on  board  during 
our  visit.  On  the  lower  deck  are  those  of  the 
Lieutenants,  which  as  in  our  own  vessels  are  merely 
temporary  erections  along  the  sides  of  the  ship,  and 
are  cleared  away  in  preparing  for  action.  Here  is 
also  the  tiller,  a  long  and  heavy  bar  of  hammered 
iron,  fitted  with  tackling  and  blocks  which  com- 
municate with  the  quarter  deck,  and  are  put  in 
motion  by  a  large  double  wheel.  Towards  the 
centre  of  this  deck  are  the  pumps,  which  are 
wrought  like  our  fire  engines.  While  we  walked 
along,  we  saw  the  starboard  mess  at  dinner;  the 
seats  and  tables  are  planks  suspended  from  the 
roof  at  right  angles  to  the  ship's  sides.  On  one 
of  these  I  noticed  two  Bibles  with  the  stamp  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  which  bore  evident 
tokens  of  having  been  perused.  The  sick  births 
are  in  the  bows,  the  cots  are  slung  from  the  roof, 
and  neatly  hung  with  curtains.  Lower  still,  and 
under  the  level  of  the  water  is  the  cockpit  where 
is  the  Surgeon's  station  in  an  engagement,  and 
towards  the  stern  of  the  vessel  the  Midshipmen's 
births;  we  saw  some  of  them  busy  by  lamp  light  at 
their  nautical  calculations.  On  the  same  deck  we 
saw  the  stores  of  the  Gunner,  Sailmaker,  Carpenter, 
Painter,  &c.  The  extreme  neatness,  cleanliness, 
and  systematic  arrangement  which  prevail  in  a  ship 


SEVENTY-FOUR  GUN  SHIP — NEGRO  PROCESSION.  59 

of  war,  make  it  an  object  deserving  of  examination, 
apart  from  every  consideration  as  to  the  purposes 
of  its  construction  ;  and  so  far  as  my  limited  know- 
ledge of  nautical  affairs  could  carry  me,  every  thing 
on  board  this  vessel  appeared  to  be  of  the  first  rate 
order.  A  certain  class  of  our  writers  affect  to  un- 
dervalue the  American  navy,  but  I  am  persuaded 
that  were  another  war  unhappily  to  take  place  be- 
tween us,  there  is  not  an  officer  in  the  British  ser- 
vice who  would  prepare  for  action  with  an  Ameri- 
can ship,  without 

"  That  stem  delight  which  warriors  feel 
In  foemen  worthy  of  their  steel." 

The  Independence  although  rated  as  a  seventy- 
four,  actually  carries  ninety-two  guns ;  those  on 
her  quarter  deck  and  forecastle,  are  32  pound  Car- 
ronades ;  on  the  upper  deck,  long  24  pounders ;  and 
on  the  lower  deck,  long  32  pounders.  She  was 
intended  to  have  carried  thirty-two  pounders  upon 
all  her  decks,  but  it  was  found  that  they  sunk  her 
too  low  in  the  water.  She  measures  about  two 
thousand  three  hundred  tons,  and  her  full  comple- 
ment of  men  is  eleven  hundred. 

Negro  slavery,  that  bane  of  American  prosperity, 
has  been  for  a  considerable  time  abolished  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  the  blacks  commemorate  its  aboli- 
:ion  by  an  annual  procession  which  I  have  had  the 
pleasure  of  witnessing.  The  appearance  of  their 
long  array  was  rather  grotesque,  and  afforded  a  good 


60  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

deal  of  merriment  to  the  Boston  wags ;  and  some 
printer,  to  turn  the  joke  to  account,  has  published 
a  caricature  of  it  with  a  mock  account  of  the  subse- 
quent dinner.  The  older  blacks  who  headed  the 
procession  carried  short  batoons,  some  of  them  wore 
cocked  hats,  cockades,  epaulets,  silk  sashes,  and  top 
boots ; — after  them  a  party  of  younger  ones  followed 
bearing  formidable  pikes  with  tin  heads,  and  a  few 
flags ;  several  bands  of  music  were  placed  at  inter- 
vals along  the  line,  and  it  was  closed  by  a  multitude 
of  black  boys,  two  and  two,  in  their  gayest  apparel. 
A  great  number  of  female  blacks  lined  the  side 
walks.  In  this  order  the  whole  proceeded  to 
church  where  they  heard  sermon ;  the  men  after- 
wards dined  together,  elected  office-bearers  for  the 
following  year,  and  according  to  custom  on  such 
occasions  "  spent  the  evening  in  the  utmost  convi- 
viality and  good  humour." 

It  was  gratifying  to  witness  the  happy  looks,  and 
fantastic  dresses  of  these  free  blacks,  and  to  think 
of  the  event  commemorated  by  their  holiday  pro- 
cession. Melancholy  reflections  however  were  sug- 
gested by  the  remembrance,  that  though  they  could 
no  longer  be  bought  and  sold,  like  the  inferior  ani- 
mals or  a  mass  of  inanimate  matter,  yet  chains  of  a 
stronger  kind  still  manacled  their  limbs,  from  which 
no  legislative  act  could  free  them ;  a  mental  and 
moral  subordination  and  inferiority,  to  which  tyrant 
custom  has  here  subjected  all  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  Africa.  I  shall  not  at  present  enlarge  upon 


LUNATIC  HOSPITAL.  61 

the  condition  of  this  unfortunate  race,  there  will  be 
but  too  frequent  opportunities  of  recurring  to  the 
subject. 

There  is  building  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bos- 
ton an  asylum  for  Lunatics,  which  is  in  an  advanced 
state  of  preparation.  America  has  been  hitherto  de- 
ficient in  retreats  for  those  unfortunate  individuals, 
whom  God  has  in  his  providence  visited  with  men- 
tal alienation.  It  is  not  indeed  surprising  that 
where  population  has  advanced  with  such  rapid 
strides,  the  proportionate  provision  should  scarcely 
lave  been  made  for  that  most  afflictive  of  all  tem- 
)oral  calamities ;  much  however  has  been  done, 
and  much  more  is  doing,  to  vindicate  Americans 
Tom  any  imputation  of  insensibility  to  the  sorrows 
of  their  suffering  fellow  creatures. 

The  Lunatic  Hospital,  as  it  is  called,  is  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  Boston,  and  the  direct  approach  to 
t  is  by  one  of  the  many  wooden  bridges  "  which 
kvith  their  wearisome  but  needful  length,"  connect 
he  town  with  the  surrounding  country.  The 
situation  is  exceedingly  well  chosen ;  the  buildings 
crown  the  brow  of  a  rising  ground,  which  swells 
gradually  from  the  water,  commanding  a  very  fine 
view  of  the  city  and  the  bay,  and  enjoying  a  free 
circulation  of  the  purest  air.  The  effect  of  such  a 
situation  must  be  tranquillizing  to  the  mind  of  the 
convalescent,  and  cheering  by  its  variety  to  the 
Irooping  and  despondent.  Ten  acres  of  ground 
vhich,  with  an  ancient  mansion  house,  were  formerly 

VOL.  I.  F 


62  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

the  property  of  an  opulent  merchant,  are  appro- 
priated to  this  benevolent  institution.  The  recent 
proprietor  is  no  longer  a  sharer  in  sublunary  things, 
and  his  house,  which  has  been  one  of  elegance  in 
its  day,  is  undergoing  some  alterations  to  render  it 
a  convenient  residence  for  the  keeper  and  his  assist- 
ants. This  is  the  centre  building  of  the  Hospital 
and  communicates  by  low  galleries  with  two  new 
ones,  containing  rooms  for  the  patients,  which  have 
been  erected  at  right  angles  to  the  first,  so  as  to 
form  three  sides  of  a  court.  In  their  size  and  in- 
ternal arrangement  the  two  sides  are  exactly  alike ; 
they  are  three  stories  high,  a  lobby  runs  through 
the  centre  of  each  story,  and  on  both  sides  of  it  are 
six  apartments,  forming  a  total  of  seventy  two  in 
the  two  wings.  Over  the  door  of  each  apartment 
is  an  opening  of  about  a  foot  square;  the  two 
centre  rooms  on  each  side  of  the  lobbies  are  to  be 
supplied  in  winter  with  heated  air,  by  flues  from  an 
air  furnace  in  the  ground  story,  the  other  rooms 
have  fire  places.  None  of  the  rooms  are  yet  quite 
finished,  so  that  it  must  be  left  for  future  travellers 
to  report  as  to  the  details  of  the  internal  arrange- 
ment, and  the  treatment  of  the  patients. 

Civil  communities  sooner  feel  the  need  of  recep- 
tacles for  evil  doers,  than  for  the  sick  or  insane,  and 
with  this  Boston  has  been  long  provided.  The 
Penitentiary,  or  State  Prison,  is  constructed  and  re- 
gulated exactly  on  the  present  plan  of  the  one  in 

Philadelphia,  which  has  been  so  long  celebrated. 
9 


PENITENTIARY.  63 

The  system  adopted  there  must  be  universally  com- 
mended as  a  humane  effort  to  restrain  the  wicked- 
ness of  men,  without  that  profuse  application  of 
capital  punishments  which  characterize  the  more 
sanguinary  codes  of  Europe ;  and  as  a  most  inter- 
esting experiment  on  the  possibility  of  preventing 
crime  rather  than  punishing  it,  and  reforming 
criminals  rather  than  extirpating  them. 

The  Boston  State  Prison  consists  of  a  range  of 
buildings  of  granite,  containing  numerous  apart- 
ments for  lodging  the  prisoners,  and  extensive  work 
shops  for  carrying  on  various  handicraft  arts,  with  a 
spacious  open  court  which  affords  a  free  circulation 
of  air  to  the  whole  establishment.  The  prison  is 
surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  with  turrets  and  plat- 
forms at  the  four  corners,  on  which  sentinels  keep 
guard  with  loaded  muskets.  On  approaching  the 
prison  we  found  a  keeper  overlooking  a  number  of 
the  delinquents,  who  were  repairing  a  strong  pali- 
sade fence  which  forms  part  of  the  outer  works. 
The  men  were  dressed  in  party  coloured  clothes, 
with  each  half  of  their  jacket  and  trowsers  of  a  dif- 
ferent colour ;  one  arm  was  of  red,  the  other  of 
blue,  one  leg  green,  the  other  gray.  This  was  in- 
tended to  facilitate  the  apprehension  of  any  that 
might  happen  to  escape,  for  they  would  thus  carry 
about  with  them,  till  they  found  means  to  change 
their  apparel,  a  most  conspicuous  badge  of  the  so- 
ciety from  which  they  had  absconded. 

In  the  keeper's  office,  a  general  explanation  was 
F  2 


64  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

given  me  of  the  system  of  management.  All  the 
prisoners  except  those  condemned  to  a  solitary  cell 
are  employed  in  some  manual  art;  if  they  have 
been  previously  taught  one  which  can  be  practised 
within  the  prison  walls  they  are  of  course  set  to  it, 
if  not,  as  most  frequently  happens,  they  are  in- 
structed in  one.  Part  of  them  are  kept  in  regular 
employment  by  tradesmen  who  provide  them  with 
work ;  the  rest  are  variously  employed  on  behalf  of 
the  establishment.  Of  their  earnings,  the  greater 
part,  along  with  the  profit  on  manufactured  articles, 
is  appropriated  to  the  expenses  of  the  prison ;  a 
small  proportion  is  allowed  to  accumulate  for  the 
benefit  of  the  prisoner,  that  he  may  be  stimulated 
to  good  behaviour  and  industry,  and  if  disposed  to 
lead  an  honest  life  when  his  term  of  punishment 
expires,  have  a  little  money  with  which  to  make  a 
commencement.  The  expenses  of  the  establish- 
ment however  have  always  exceeded  its  receipts, 
and  the  deficiency  is  provided  for  by  an  annual  vote 
of  the  State  Legislature.  In  the  keeper's  office  is 
a  supply  of  arms  and  accoutrements,  to  equip  his 
household  and  assistants  in  the  event  of  any  at- 
tempt at  outrage  on  the  part  of  the  prisoners ;  of 
these  weapons  however  I  believe  they  have  never 
yet  had  occasion  to  avail  themselves. 

Goin^  out  into  the  court  yard,  we  found  in  it  a 
great  number  employed  in  hewing  blocks  of  granite 
into  graduated  sizes  and  shapes  for  building.  This 
is  a  staple  commodity  in  the  prison,  and  a  stock  of 


PENITENTIARY — RULES.  65 

building  stone  is  kept  constantly  on  sale.  In 
the  work  shops  we  saw  the  prisoners  variously 
engaged,  as  bakers,  weavers,  shoemakers,  tailors, 
carpenters,  turners,  brush  makers,  nailers,  wool- 
combers,  spinners,  &c.  &c.  All  seemed  to  be  as 
busy  and  as  attentive  to  their  work,  as  if  it  had 
been  their  chosen  and  voluntary  employment ;  and 
the  workmanship  which  they  produced  seemed  not 
only  good,  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  but  some  of  it 
even  of  a  superior  finish  and  appearance.  The 
clothes  of  some  of  the  workmen  were  not  of  that 
party-coloured  kind  which  I  remarked  on  most  of 
them,  and  the  keeper  informed  me  that  this  was 
an  indulgence  granted  to  those  whose  conduct  was 
exemplary ;  it  had  been  recently  introduced  and 
had  been  found  to  have  considerable  influence 
upon  the  prisoners,  giving  them  the  idea  that  some 
degree  of  confidence  was  reposed  in  those  who 
were  so  distinguished,  and  that  they  had  thus 
made  one  step  of  approximation  towards  the  char- 
acter of  honest  men  and  good  citizens. 

The  prisoners  are  not  allowed  to  utter  a  word 
in  the  presence  of  strangers,  and  at  all  times  quiet- 
ness and  decorum  are  rigidly  enforced.  The  fe- 
male delinquents  are  confined  in  a  separate  part  of 
the  prison,  and  are  employed  in  cooking,  washing, 
and  sewing  for  the  establishment,  as  well  as  in  other 
branches  of  female  industry. 

During  the  whole  year  the  prisoners  are  required 
F3 


66  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

to  rise  half  an  hour  before  the  sun.1     They  com- 
mence labour  at  sunrise ;  at  eight  o'clock  they  are 
allowed  fifteen  minutes  for  breakfast,  at  noon  half 
an  hour  for  dinner ;  they  leave  off  work  at  half  an 
hour   before   sunset,  are   allowed   fifteen   minutes 
for  supper,  and  at  sunset    are  locked  up.     Their 
food  consists  of  rye  and  Indian  corn  bread,  cocoa, 
molasses,  soup,  vegetables,  and  occasionally  meat. 
A  sermon  is  preached  to  them  every  Sabbath,  and  I 
believe  the  more  ignorant  are  instructed  in  reading. 
Prisoners  who  are   disorderly  are  punished  by 
privations  of  various  kinds,  and  sometimes  by  soli- 
tary confinement,    when  they  are  not  allowed  to 
converse   even   with    the   man   who   brings    them 
their  food ;  some   I  observed  with  a  clog  of  wood 
chained  to  one  foot,    which  they  were  obliged  to 
carry  in  their  arms  when   moving  from  place  to 
place ;  this  is  the  only  species  of  corporal  punish- 
ment which  is  allowed.     As  we  passed  along,  a  mu- 
latto boy  distinguished  by  this  order  of  merit  came 
up  to  the  conductor,  and  begged  hard   to  be  re- 
leased from  it;  this  however  was   decidedly  and 
somewhat  sternly  refused,  and  the  keeper  told  me 
that  it  would  not  have  been  asked,   but   that  they 
expect   to  find  him  more  easily  mollified  in  the 
presence  of  strangers,  for  the  sake  of  thus  acquir- 
ing the  character  of  kindness  and  humanity.     I 

1  It  must  be  recollected  here  that  an  American  summer  day  is 
considerably  shorter  than  ours. 


PENITENTIARY — INTERNAL  ARRANGEMENT.     67 

observed  that  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the 
prisoners  were  men  of  colour.  It  is  but  too  ob- 
vious that  these  unfortunate  people  are  in  a  great 
measure  outcasts  from  society;  they  are  too  often 
left  without  education  when  young,  and  treated 
with  distrust  when  older,  till  they  become  gradually 
and  almost  necessarily  not  trust-worthy ;  and  hav- 
ing no  character  to  lose,  they  feel  little  scruple, 
when  honourable  means  of  support  fail,  in  having 
recourse  to  those  of  another  kind. 

I  was  next  conducted  to  their  sleeping  apart- 
ments, which  are  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  court- 
yard, and  have  every  appearance  of  being  both 
comfortable  and  secure.  A  gallery  runs  along 
each  floor  between  two  ranges  of  small  rooms,  in 
each  of  which  are  wooden  bed  frames  for  four, 
consisting  of  two  upper  and  two  under  births,  but 
both  on  the  same  side.  Two  narrow  openings  in 
the  wall  admit  air  and  light ;  the  walls  are  white 
washed  and  every  thing  perfectly  clean.  Under 
the  sleeping  apartments  are  the  solitary  cells,  and 
above  is  an  hospital  for  the  sick ;  we  found  few  in 
it,  and  all  of  them  in  the  way  of  recovery. 

The  building  is  every  where  of  very  great 
strength;  many  of  the  blocks  of  granite  of  which 
it  is  built  are  twelve  feet  long,  and  in  the  sleeping 
rooms  and  galleries  those  forming  the  floors  and 
roofs  in  all  cases  reach  from  wall  to  wall.  The 
doors  on  the  sleeping  rooms  are  of  iron,  some 
of  them  solid  and  others  grated;  a  strong  iron 


68  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

door  also  terminates  each  gallery,  so  that  the 
escape  of  the  prisoners  seems  altogether  hopeless. 
The  keeper  indeed  said  that  none  had  ever  effected 
their  escape  by  force,  although  one  or  two  had 
succeeded  by  false  keys.  An  Irishman  had  on 
one  occasion  got  out  in  this  way  from  one  of  the 
solitary  cells,  but  being  unable  to  reach  the  pad- 
lock which  is  fastened  outside  of  the  door  at  the 
end  of  the  gallery,  he  concealed  himself  till  sun- 
set, when  they  happened  to  bring  in  another  pris- 
oner, and  managed  to  slip  out  unobserved  while 
they  were  lodging  him  in  his  cell ;  the  sentinels 
had  just  been  removed  from  the  walls,  as  they  al- 
ways are  after  the  prisoners  have  been  locked  up, 
and  Paddy  was  never  more  heard  of.  There  are 
at  present  in  confinement  369  persons,  and  I  was 
happy  to  learn,  that  among  all  these  there  is  but 
one  Scotsman. 

Of  the  efficacy  of  the  penitentiary  system,  as  at 
present  administered,  the  keeper  appears  to  be  very 
doubtful ;  and  it  is  unquestionable  that  an  opinion 
prevails,  in  the  larger  cities,  that  for  the  purpose 
of  either  deterring  from  crime  or  reforming  the 
criminal,  the  penitentiaries  are  at  present  in  a  great 
measure  inefficient.  The  prisoners  are  in  many 
respects  too  comfortable  to  feel  their  confinement  as 
a  very  severe  punishment,  for  although  the  depriva- 
tion of  personal  liberty  is  in  itself  a  great  hardship, 
it  may  to  very  many  be  compensated  for  by  a 
degree  of  comfort  in  clothing  and  habitation,  to 


PENITENTIARY — EFFECTS  OF  THE  SYSTEM.      69 

which  they  are  elsewhere  unaccustomed.  It  can- 
not be  doubted  that  in  America  they  have  now 
gone  to  the  extreme  of  leniency,  in  their  criminal 
code,  as  we  have  to  the  extreme  of  severity ;  theirs 
is  undoubtedly  the  side  on  which  all  humane 
persons  would  wish  to  err,  but  too  much  mercy 
to  rogues  is  cruelty  to  society  at  large,  and  is 
therefore  to  be  avoided  if  we  would  -wish  to  attain 
to  a  perfect  criminal  system.  Much  may  be  done 
however  to  improve  the  prison  discipline  of  the 
American  penitentiaries,  without  properly  speak- 
ing increasing  the  severity  of  the  treatment. 

In  the  one  which  I  haAre  just  described  there  was 
not,  so  far  as  I  could  discover,  any  thorough  classi- 
fication. The  males  and  females  were  indeed 
separated,  a  most  essential  point,  but  there  ap- 
peared to  be  no  farther  distribution  of  the  pris- 
oners, excepting  that  which  arose  from  the  different 
arts  at  which  they  were  employed.  All  those  of 
one  occupation  were  together,  without  any  regard 
to  whether  they  were  young  or  old  offenders, 
whether  their  term  of  imprisonment  was  short  or 
long,  whether  the  crimes  which  they  had  com- 
mitted were  trifling  or  enormous.  Of  mere  boys 
or  girls  indeed  I  saw  none,  but  I  saw  many  who 
although  not  boys  were  very  young  men,  and  who 
ought  by  all  means  to  have  been  subjected  to  a 
different  course  of  discipline  from  that  which  was 
suitable  for  older  transgressors. 

There  was  also  far  too  much  facility  for  com- 


70  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

munication  between  one  division  of  the  establish- 
ment and  another.  There  may  be  rules  for  aught 
I  know  to  prevent  criminals  going  about  from  their 
own  department,  but  there  were  no  doors  to  shut 
them  up.  The  doors  from  the  court  to  the  differ- 
ent workshops  were  all  open ;  so  also  were  the 
windows,  and  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  to  pre- 
vent the  occupants  from  free  intercourse  with  each 
other.  In  this  way  each  sees  and  hears  so  many 
around  him,  engaged  exactly  like  himself,  that 
even  although  there  should  not  be  a  very  great 
deal  of  communication,  they  cannot  be  said,  dur- 
ing the  working  hours  at  least,  to  feel  the  con- 
finement more  than  the  workmen  in  our  larger 
manufactories ;  and  they  are  so  constantly  employed 
that  they  have  not  time  for  sober  reflection,  on  their 
past  life  or  future  prospects.  An  equally  obvious 
defect  is  the  practice  of  allowing  four  of  them  to  pass 
the  night  in  the  same  apartment,  The  average  time 
of  their  being  employed  is  not  much  above  twelve 
hours  a  day,  and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that 
there  is  time  during  the  other  twelve  for  a  great 
deal  of  useless,  probably  pernicious,  conversation, 
without  materially  interfering  with  the  hours  of 
sleep.  Were  they  kept  completely  apart,  and  left 
to  the  secret  suggestions  of  their  own  consciences, 
it  might  be  expected  that  while  some  would  relent 
and  probably  amend  their  ways,  all  would  feel  much 
more  severely  the  restraint  upon  their  liberty  and 
comforts. 


PENITENTIARY — EFFECTS  OF  THE  SYSTEM.      71 

Another  obstacle  to  the  efficacy  of  the  present 
system,  is  the  lavish  profusion  with  which  pardons 
are  granted.     I  believe  that  want  of  accommodation 
sometimes   renders  this  necessary,    since   but  for 
pardoning  the  older  criminals,  room  could  scarcely 
be  found  in  the  present  buildings  to  accommodate 
the  new  ones ;  but  whatever  may  be  the  cause,  it 
is  certain  that  be  the  term  of  imprisonment  what 
it  may,  ten  years,  twenty  years,  or  life,  a  criminal 
may  almost  count  with  certainty  on  being  released 
in  three,  four,  or  five  years,  if  he  behave  with  any 
moderate  degree  of  propriety.     1  have  no  docu- 
ment beside  me  stating  the  number   of  pardons 
granted  annually  in  Boston,  but  from  a  printed 
account  of  the  New  York  State  Prison,  it  appears 
that  the  total  number  of  prisoners  in  the  year  1814 
was  709 ;  of  which  29  died  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  10  were  discharged  in  consequence  of  the  ex- 
piration of  their  sentences,  and  no  less  than  176 
were  pardoned.     It  is  obvious  that  this  system  must 
be  ruinous  in  its  consequences,  and  that  there  must 
be  some  capital  defect  in  the  criminal  discipline  of 
the  community  where  such  a  practice  prevails.     It 
sometimes  happens  that  the  same  individual  is  im- 
prisoned and  pardoned  several  times  over,  for  crimes 
which  in  Britain  would  at  once  send  him  either  to 
Botany  Bay  or  to  the  gallows,  and  thus  rid  society 
of  him  altogether.     I  do  not  think  by  any  means 
that  ours  is  the  only  alternative,  nor  do  1  suppose 
it  possible  by  any  expedient  completely  to  prevent 


72  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

the  repetition  of  crimes  by  the  same  individual ; 
but  certainly  to  let  loose  upon  society  rogues  who 
have  been  frequently  guilty  of  flagrant  outrages,  and 
to  have  no  means  of  intimidation  powerful  enough 
to  deter  them  from  a  pretty  frequent  repetition  of 
their  crimes,  proves  that  something  yet  remains  to 
be  done  ere  the  criminal  code  of  the  United  States 
can  be  considered  perfect.     While  you  divest  your- 
self however  of  all  thoughts  as   to  the  drawbacks 
connected  with  the  Penitentiary  system,  as  at  present 
conducted,  you  certainly  cannot  contemplate  the 
interior  of  this  great  manufactory  without  emotions 
of  peculiar  satisfaction.     To   see  so  many  hands 
which    were   formerly   active   only  in   crime,  now 
taught  to  be  equally  active  in  some  useful  art ;  to 
think  of  the  humanity  of  the  system  as   contrasted 
with  that  of  Britain ;  and  to  witness  the  cleanliness, 
order,  and  regularity,  which  pervade  the  whole  es- 
tablishment, make  you  almost  forget  that  you  are  in 
a  receptacle  for  knaves  or  fondly  believe  that  they 
are  so  no  longer,  and  internally  exclaim,  *  This  must 
be  a  noble  institution.'2 

*  In  all  that  has  of  late  been  written  by  benevolent  individuals  on 
the  criminal  code  and  jail  economy  of  our  native  country,  particular 
reference  has  been  made  to  the  penitentiaries  of  America,  especially 
that  of  Philadelphia.  A  little  additional  information,  therefore,  to 
what  has  been  communicated  above,  cannot  be  out  of  place  here. 

"  The  penitentiary  system,"  says  an  intelligent  and  candid  writer 
in  the  North  American  Review,  "proposes  to  reform  the  criminal 
and  restore  him  to  society,  penitent  and  useful.  It  proceeds  upon 
an  hypothesis  favourable  to  human  virtue,  and  to  the  effect  of  moral 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY.  73 

The  state  of  Academical  education  in  the  United 
States  is  a  matter  respecting  which  much  ignorance 
prevails  in  our  native  country.  I  hope  hereafter 
to  transmit  a  detailed  account  of  the  discipline  of 
Yale  College,  in  New  Haven,  in  the  mean  time  I 
am  enabled  to  communicate  a  few  particulars 

intelligence.  It  rests  for  its  efficacy  upon  die  truth  of  the  proposi- 
tion, that  reformation  may  be  brought  about  by  discipline  and  in- 
struction ;  and  that  if  the  motives  to  an  honest  life  are  properly  ex- 
hibited and  enforced,  there  is  good  reason  to  expect  that  they  will  in- 
fluence the  conduct. — It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  respect  to  general 
design,  the  latter  of  these  two  systems  (the  European  and  the  Ameri- 
can^ has  greatly  the  preference.  They  have  however  both  their  re- 
spective advantages,  nor  is  either  without  its  peculiar  disadvantages. 
Judging  by  the  effects  produced,  neither  of  them  has  answered  its 
original  design.  In  England  the  sanguinary  system  of  punishment 
has  not  diminished  the  number  of  criminals,  and  has  begun  to  excite 
a  disgust,  wliich  prevents  its  enforcement ;  wliile  in  the  United  States 
the  practical  operation  of  the  penitentiary  system  has  cooled  the  ar- 
dour of  its  friends,  and  excited  doubts  of  its  permanent  utility. 
The  warmest  advocates  of  these  institutions  will  probably  admit  that 
they  have  not  in  all  respects  corresponded  to  their  wishes,  but  who- 
ever contends  that  they  have  been  wholly  unproductive  of  benefit 
must  surely  be  very  little  acquainted  with  their  history. — The  great 
source  of  disappointment  is  unreasonable  expectation.  More  benefit 
has  been  anticipated  than  it  was  prudent  to  propose.  The  advocates 
of  this  improvement  in  humanity  have  been  too  ardent  and  sanguine. 
They  have  promised  themselves  too  much,  and  injured  their  cause  by 
the  disappointment  which  has  followed. — We  do  not  believe  in  tha 
empiricism  which  pretends,  by  a  certain  specific,  to  cure  every  pos- 
sible evil.  But  we  maintain  that  the  regimen  of  the  prison  is,  with 
the  blessing  of  heaven,  a  mean  of  destroying  a  great  mass  of  moral 
corruption,  and  diminishing  those  seeds  of  vice,  from  wliich  spring 
the  greatest  harvest  of  misery.  In  the  walls  of  the  penitentiary  will 
be  found  not  only  the  incorrigible  offender,  but  the  inexperienced 
VOL,  J.  G 


74  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

respecting  that  at  Cambridge,  about  three  miles 
from  Boston. 

Harvard  University  is  the  most  ancient  and 
most  amply  endowed  classical  establishment  in  the 
United  States;  it  was  founded  in  1638,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  will  of  a  clergyman  of  the  name  of 

culprit. — Should  such  persons  as  the  latter  be  whipped  and  dis- 
charged into  the  same  scenes,  die  same  company,  the  same  misery, 
and  the  same  temptations,  and  the  almost  inevitable  renewal  of  their 
crime  and  their  punishment !  Will  you  convert  a  single  arror  into  an 
irreparable  crime  !  Or  will  you  not  rather  place  the  miserable  patient 
where,  by  a  kindness  he  will  regard,  and  a  discipline  he  must  feel,  he 
will  become  sensible  of  his  wickedness,  and  be  removed  from  the 
dangerous  connexions  in  which  it  originated.  Among  such  unfor- 
tunate criminals  there  is  hope  of  amendment.  From  this  great  and 
growing  class,  many  may  be  preserved  from  ruin,  the  living  witnesses 
of  the  excellence  of  the  institutions  by  which  they  have  been  restored 
to  society.  That  our  State  Prisons  have  answered  this  valuable 
though  moderate  expectation,  is  abundantly  proved  by  an  inspection 
of  their  records.  In  the  early  period  of  the  Philadelphia  peniten- 
tiary, when  it  was  conducted  with  indefatigable  attention  by  its  phi- 
lanthropic founders,  '  the  prison  was  a  school  of  reformation,  and  a 
place  of  public  labour,  and  of  the  many  who  received  the  Governor's 
pardon,  not  one  returned  a  convict.'  At  a  later  period  out  of  nearly 
two  hundred  persons,  who  had  been  recommended  to  and  pardoned 
by  the  Governor,  only  four  had  returned ;  the  roads  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  city  so  constantly  infested  with  robbers  were  seldom  disturbed  by 
those  dangerous  characters ;  the  houses,  shops,  and  vessels,  so  per- 
petually robbed,  no  longer  experienced  those  alarming  evils.  There 
had  been  but  two  instances  of  burglaries  in  the  city  and  county  for 
nearly  two  years. — The  early  history  of  the  New  York  State  Prison 
gives  the  same  result,  and  its  recent  and  present  failure  to  meet  the 
public  expectation  can  be  accounted  for,  without  controverting  the 
grounds  on  which  this  mode  of  punishment  is  justified.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts, from  the  opening  of  the  State  Prison  in  December  ]  805, 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY.  75 

Harvard,  who  bequeathed  for  this  purpose  the  half 
of  his  property,  amounting  to  about  £800  Sterling. 
Various  Governors  of  the  State,  and  other  in- 
dividuals, have  been  its  subsequent  benefactors, 
and  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  local  govern- 
ment it  has  enjoyed  uninterrupted  prosperity,  and 

to  15th  April  1817,  there  were  received  918  convicts,  of  whom  79 
were  afterwards  returned,  305  were  then  in  custody,  38  had  died,  and 
the  remaining  496  had  never  been  brought  again  within  the  prison 
limits.  During  the  same  period  155  had  been  pardoned,  of  whom  1 1 
had  proved  themselves  unworthy  of  the  favour,  but  144>  had  not  been 
known  to  be  again  the  subjects  of  criminal  law.  Of  those  who  were 
liberated,  many  are  known  to  the  officers  of  that  institution  to  have 
become  industrious  and  useful  citizens.  These  facts  prove  the  utility 
of  the  institution  in  certain  cases,  and  in  a  proportion  which  is  grati- 
fying to  its  advocates ;  while  the  farther  fact  that  five  convicts  had 
been  returned  four  times  each,  and  one  five  times,  proves  also  that  to 
expect  reformation  in  every  convict  is  altogether  idle.  The  prescrip- 
tion will  not  suit  every  patient,  and  moral  as  well  as  physical  disease 
will  sometimes  baffle  the  efforts  of  human  wisdom." 

Thus  far  this  judicious  writer  proves  to  us  the  reasonableness  and 
the  practicability  of  the  system ;  he  then  asserts  that  these  institutions 
have  not  accomplished  all  that  might  reasonably  have  been  expected 
of  them,  and  that  some  of  them  after  having  for  a  time  done  well,  fell 
into  a  state  of  inefficiency  and  disorganization. 

The  first  cause  of  their  failure  was  the  expense  of  supporting 
them.  The  public  had  too  hastily  adopted  the  idea  that  a  peniten- 
tiary should  in  a  great  measure  support  itself,  and  when  a  vote  was 
required  to  defray  expenses,  and  supply  deficiencies,  the  people 
grumbled  and  the  money  was  with  difficulty  obtained.  "  This  ex- 
pense is  a  charge  upon  the  public ;  and  to  render  it  as  small  as  pos- 
sible, die  penitentiary  character  of  the  establishment  is  made  a  secon- 
dary consideration.  "  It  is  no  longer  a  place  merely  of  moral  im- 
provement, where  industry  is  enforced  as  a  part  of  necessary  disci- 
pline, but  it  becomes  a  great  workshop,  in  which  every  man  is  labour- 
G2 


76  LETTER    III. BOSTON. 

has  gradually  advanced  in  wealth  and  literary  re- 
spectability. The  University  consists  of  two  de- 
partments, the  Literary,  and  the  Medical ;  the 
latter  of  which,  although  an  integral  part  of  the  in- 
stitution, occupies  buildings  in  Boston,  for  the 
greater  convenience  of  medical  students. 

ing  for  the  public,  and  obliged  to  add  as  much  as  possible  to  the 
capital  stock.  The  effect  is  seen  in  a  variety  of  indulgences  granted 
to  the  convicts,  and  to  the  superior  importance  which  is  attached  to 
profit  over  manners.  The  institutions  themselves  are  contrived  with 
regard  to  economy,  and  as  the  prisoners  increase  in  numbers  a  sepa- 
ration becomes  impossible,  they  mingle  together  in  the  workshops, 
are  crowded  in  the  cells,  and  have  opportunity  by  injudicious  inter- 
course to  confirm  each  other's  bad  habits,  and  to  combine  against 
the  natural  tendency  of  their  punishment." 

"  Another  cause  exceedingly  injurious  to  the  moral  effect  of  these 
institutions  is  the  character  attached  in  public  estimation  to  the  un- 
fortunate inmate  even  after  he  quits  the  walls. — The  charitable  Qua- 
kers who  commenced  these  institutions,  did  not  leave  the  poor  man 
at  the  threshold  of  the  prison  door,  exposed  to  the  wants  of  poverty, 
and  thrown  among  the  temptations  of  the  world  with  no  safeguard 
but  his  unconfirmed  moral  feelings.  They  procured  employment 
for  him,  gave  him  countenance  and  character,  watched  over  him  with 
assiduity,  and  prevented  any  backward  step,  by  holding  out  allure- 
ments and  motives  to  honesty.  The  case  is  now  changed,  little  or  no 
provision  is  made  for  the  discharged  prisoner.  The  cares  of  the 
government  do  not  extend  beyond  the  prison  walls.  Society  marks 
a  man  who  has  once  been  in  confinement  with  a  jealous  eye.— 
Honest  men  avoid  him.  The  police  keep  an  eye  upon  his  motions. 
Is  a  robbery  committed,  he  is  the  first  person  suspected.  Is  labour 
wanted,  he  is  the  last  person  employed.  In  fact  by  the  general  pub- 
lic sentiment  he  is  driven  into  the  haunts  of  profligacy  and  crime. — 
Whenever  these  remarks  apply,  and  the  discharged  convict  under  the 
influence  of  the  evils  that  surround  him,  is  forced  upon  the  com- 
mission of  new  offences,  the  blame  is  laid  to  the  nature  of  his  former 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY — BUILDINGS.  77 

The  buildings  at  Cambridge  are  eight  in  num- 
ber, erected  in  an  enclosed  plain  of  fourteen  acres, 
sheltered  on  three  sides  by  forest  trees,  and  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  an  extensive  common.  Three 
of  the  buildings  contain  the  lecture  rooms,  chapel, 
library,  laboratory,  &c.  the  remainder  consist  of 

punishment,  and  not,  as  it  ought  to  be,  to  the  incomplete  perfor- 
mance of  the  duty  which  the  public  had  assumed.  First  make  the 
system  perfect ;  establish  all  the  parts  of  which  it  is  composed  and 
then  ascertain  the  result."  North  American  Review,  No.  XXVII. 
Pp.  235—248. 

In  a  more  recent  number  of  the  same  journal  the  subject  has  been 
resumed,  and  I  transcribe  the  following  additional  observations  on 
the  deterioration  which  has  taken  place  in  the  administration  and 
efficiency  of  the  American  penitentaries. 

"  If  our  State  Prisons  have  not  produced  all  the  good  effects  that 
have  been  expected,  it  is  not  owing  to  the  nature  of  these  institutions, 
but  to  the  improvidence  of  the  several  legislatures  in  not  preparing 
adequate  room  for  the  number  of  convicts.      The  prison  of  Philadel. 
phia  was  not  originally  constructed  for  this  purpose  ;  yet  it  was  suc- 
cessfully administered,   until  the  increase  of  criminals,  and  the  re- 
fusal of  the  legislature  to  build  another  prison,   so  accumulated  the 
convicts,  that  all  possibility  of  classification  and  separation  was  de- 
stroyed.    It  was  worse  in  New  York — the  prison,  originally  intend- 
ed for  three  hundred,  afterwards  contained  more  than  double   that 
number,  and  when  we  visited  it  a  few  years  since,  a  large  part  df  the 
convicts  could  not  be  employed  for  want  of  room,   and  some  of  the 
best  of  them  were  '  pardoned  out'  every  month,  for  no  other  reason 
than  to  make  way  for  new  convicts,  that  the  course  of  justice  might 
not  be  impeded  by  the  want  of  room  to  execute  its  decrees.      This  is 
now  remedied  in  New  York,   by  the  establishment  of  an  extensive 
bridewell,  and  the  erection  of  a  new  prison  in  the  western  district  of 
the  State.     Pennsylvania  is  building  a  larger  prison,  expressly  adapt- 
ed to  the  purposes  both  of  labour,  and  seclusion."      North  Ameri' 
can  Review,  No.  XXXIII.  Pp.  419,  420. 
G  3 


78  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

apartments  for  the  students,  who  here  as  in  the 
English  Universities  reside  within  the  walls.  The 
largest  building  is  of  fine  white  granite  and  was 
erected  in  1814;  it  is  said  to  have  cost  nearly 
seventeen  thousand  pounds  sterling :  the  rest  are 
of  brick,  and  some  of  the  larger  ones  cost  from  five 
to  six  thousand  pounds  sterling. 


It  will  be  obvious  from  the  above  extracts,  which  convey  a  very 
accurate  idea  of  the  present  state  of  prison  discipline  in  the  United 
States,  that  the  Penitentiary  system  has  while  properly  administered 
answered  in  a  liigh  degree  the  purposes  at  once  of  punishment  and 
reformation  ;  but  it  is  equally  obvious  that  at  present  the  peniten- 
tiaries are  in  a  state  of  partial,  if  not  total  inefficiency,  arising  solely 
from  inattention  to  the  most  obvious  suggestions  of  common  sense  and 
experience  in  regard  to  their  management.  So  universal  has  been 
the  outcry  of  the  public  on  this  subject,  that  means  have  already  been 
taken  in  some  of  the  States  to  reform  and  invigorate  the  system  ;  and 
in  the  last  Session  of  Congress,  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate and  report  respecting  the  general  state  of  the  penitentiaries 
throughout  the  Union.  Their  report,  which  is  prodigiously  long 
although  upon  the  whole  judicious,  is  concluded  by  the  following 
"  broad  positions  :"  "First,  That  the  penitentiary  system,  as  it  now 
exists  in  the  United  States,  with  all  its  defects  is  preferable  to  the 
former  systems  of  punishment  in  this  country.  Secondly,  That  it  is 
capable  of  being  so  improved  as  to  become  the  most  judicious  and 
effective  system  of  punishment  ever  known  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  Thirdly,  That  where  it  has  been  properly  administered,  as 
it  formerly  was  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  it  has  succeeded  and 
answered  the  expectations  of  its  early  friends.  Fourthly,  That 
solitary  confinement  by  night  and  by  day,  combined  with  other  re- 
gulations suggested  in  this  Report,  will  remedy  all  existing  evils. 
Fiftly,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  different  States  of  the  Union  to 
proceed  without  delay  to  its  improvement  and  perfection.  Lastly, 
That  corporal  punishments,  and  the  infliction  of  death,  would  not 

8 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY — LIBRARY.  79 

The  library,  which  is  rapidly  increasing,  contains 
already  upwards  of  seventeen  thousand  volumes, 
many  of  them  of  great  rarity  and  value.  I  saw  in 
it  a  large  paper  copy  of  Walton's  Polyglot,  said 
to  have  been  the  presentation  copy,  and  a  very 
beautiful  manuscript  of  the  Aphorisms  of  Hippo- 
crates, executed  for  Dr.  Mead  by  an  English 
schoolmaster,  and  by  the  Doctor's  son  presented 
to  this  University.  This  manuscript  is  quite  a  gem. 
It  possesses  indeed  none  of  the  mouldy  charms  of 

prove  congenial  to  the  moral  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  American 
people ;  and  that  the  transportation  of  convicts  is  visionary,  impracti- 
cable, and  would  not  prevent  crimes  and  offences,  even  if  it  were 
adopted  in  our  penal  statutes.  The  Committee  hope  and  trust,  that 
enlightened,  humane,  and  public  spirited  individuals  of  the  different 
States  in  the  Union,  will  feel  the  responsibility  that  rests  upon  this 
country,  in  relation  to  the  system  of  which  we  have  so  fully  spoken." 
Fide  "  The  Investigator,"  JVb.  XL  January,  1823,  P.  168. 

One  remark  more  shall  close  this  long  note.  It  can  scarcely  fail 
to  occur  to  all  who  have  ever  taken  part  in  the  direction  of  any 
institution,  intended  to  alleviate  either  the  physical  or  the  moral 
maladies  of  our  species,  that  however  indispensable  general  rules  of 
management  and  classification  are,  it  is  also  absolutely  necessary  to 
give  them  full  efficacy,  that  zealous  and  conscientious  individuals 
should  devote  their  time  a/id  their  energies  to  the  good  work,  not 
from  mercenary  considerations,  but  from  that  hearty  desire  to  do  good 
for  which  the  projectors  of  the  Philadelphia  penitentiary  were  so 
distinguished.  Few  such  institutions  are  successful,  however  unex- 
ceptionable their  rules,  without  some  portion  of  ardour,  perhaps 
enthusiasm,  in  the  managers ;  and  few  are  altogether  unsuccessful 
where  this  enthusiasm  is  found,  even  although  the  economy  of  the 
system  should  be  in  some  degree  erroneous.  Some  information  re- 
specting the  new  Philadelphia  penitentiary  will  be  found  in  Letter 
Seventh. 


80  LETTER  III. BOSTON. 

extreme  antiquity,  nor  can   it  be  appealed  to  as 
authority  for  settling  a  doubtful  reading,  but  the 
execution  is  in  every  respect  most  beautiful.     The 
paper  is  of  the  finest  fabric,  the  binding  and  case 
which  contains  it  are  both  of  rich  Morocco,   but 
above  all,  the  Greek  characters  are  formed  with 
the  most  exquisite  symmetry  and  elegance.     En- 
closed with  it  is  a  history  of  the  volume  in  the  au- 
tograph of  the  donor.     Among  the  philosophical 
apparatus  are  many  instruments  by  the  best  Lon- 
don makers.    I  saw  also  a  collection  of  wax  models 
of  the   human   body,    and    some  of  its    principal 
portions,    used   in   popular    lectures    on    anatomy 
which  form  part  of  the  academical  course.     They 
seemed  to  be  prepared   and   coloured  with  great 
delicacy  and  correctness;  part  of  them  had  been 
imported  from  Florence,  and  others  were  the  work- 
manship of  an  Italian  emigrant. 

The  academical  course  is  completed  in  four 
years;  students  are  termed  successively,  Freshmen, 
Sophomores,  Junior,  and  Senior,  Sophisters.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  course,  candidates  for  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  in  Arts  undergo  rigid  examina- 
tion by  the  various  Professors;  after  being  three 
years  Bachelor  they  receive  the  degree  of  Master, 
without  any  farther  examination,  provided  that 
there  has  been  nothing  in  their  conduct  to  dis- 
honour the  profession  of  letters.  There  are  three 
terms  in  the  year,  and  the  vacations  amount  to- 
gether to  about  three  months.  The  expense  of 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY.  81 

board  and  education  cannot  be  reduced,  with  the 
utmost  attention  to  economy,  below  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  to  five  .hundred  dollars,  or  about 
one  hundred  guineas  a  year ;  in  most  cases  students 
expend  a  great  deal  more. 

The  literary  and  scientific  reputation  of  Har- 
vard University  stands  very  high  ;  and  except  Yale 
College,  none  in  this  country  can  contest  with  it 
the  pre-eminence.  It  has  upwards  of  twenty  Pro- 
fessorships,3 and  between  three  and  four  hundred 
students.  There  is  one  feature  however  in  its 
character  which  excites  the  most  melancholy  reflec- 
tions ;  its  theological  creed  is  undisguised  Socinian- 
ism,  and  it  is  said  that  nearly  all  the  professors  are 
of  these  sentiments.  This  must  be,  to  a  parent  of 

3  The  following  I  believe  to  be  a  pretty  accurate  list  of  the  pre- 
sent Faculty  of  Harvard  University.  (February,  1823.) 

JOHN  THORNTON  KIRKLAND,  D.  D.3  LL.  D.,  President. 

Dr.  Aaron  Dexter,  Professor  of  Chemistry. 

Dr.  Henry  Ware,  Hollis  Professor  of  Divinity. 

John  Farrar,  Hollis  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phi- 
losophy. 

Sidney  Willard,  Professor  of  Languages.  (Particularly  the  Oriental.} 

Dr.  John  Popkin,  Professor  of  Greek.    (Reading  of  the  Classics.} 

Levi   Hedge,  Professor  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics. 

Edward  Everett,  Elliot  Professor  of  Greek  Literature.  (Philosophy 
of  the  Language.} 

Edward  Channing,  Boylston  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory. 

Andrews  Norton,  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  and  Biblical  Criti- 
cism. 

Hon.  Isaac  Parker,  Royall  Professor  of  Law.  ( Chief  Justice  of  Mas- 
sachusetts.} 


82  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

scriptural  sentiments,  a  powerful  reason  for  sending 
his  sons  elsewhere  for  their  College  education ;  for 
what  are  literary  or  scientific  attainments,  even  of 
the  highest  order,  when  weighed  in  the  balance 
with  purity  of  religious  faith  ?  It  is  asserted  in- 
deed on  behalf  of  the  University  that  no  attempt 
is  made  to  proselyte  its  students,  and  that  they  are 
allowed  to  attend  worship  with  whatever  denomina- 
tion they  or  their  friends  may  choose.  All  this 
may  be  true  so  far  as  regards  active  and  open  en- 
deavours to  inculcate  doctrinal  sentiments,  but  what 
is  to  be  the  young  enquirer's  defence  from  that 
subtile  leaven  which  is  necessarily  infused  into 
almost  every  lecture  upon  morals  and  philosophy ; 
which  affects  the  essentials  of  the  system,  and 

Hon.  Ashbel  Stearns,  Professor  of  Law. 

Hon.  Joseph  Story,  Professor  of  Commercial  Law. 

(Vacant-)  ,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy. 

Thomas  Nuttall,  Massachusetts  Professor  of  Natural  History. 

— —  Ticknor,  Smith  Professor  of  Spanish  and  Italian. 

F.  Sales,  Professor  of  French. 

Two  Tutors  of  Latin,  one  of  Greek,  two  of  Mathematics. 

MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT. 

Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  Rumford  Professor  and  Lecturer  on  Materia 

Medica  and  Botany. 

Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  Professor  of  Mineralogy. 
Dr.  John  C.  Warren,    Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery. 
Dr.  James  Jackson,  Hersey  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 

Physic. 

Dr.  John  Gorham,  Professor  of  Chemistry. 
Dr.  J.  F.  Dana,  Chemical  Assistant. 
Dr.  Walter  Channing,  Lecturer  on  Obstetrics. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW.  83 

therefore  all  its  ramified  details ;  and  which  tinctures 
every  conversation  on  a  religious  topic  which  meets 
his  ear  ?  Although  he  were  safe  from  the  influence 
of  the  lectures,  who  will  warrant  him  against  the 
ridicule  and  the  sophistry  of  his  fellow  students; 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  whom  are  of  Unitarian 
families,  and  who  have  been  accustomed  from  their 
infancy  to  laugh  at  every  distinguishing  principle 
of  that  belief  to  which  they  deny  the  character  of 
rationality?  Four  years'  exclusive  intercourse 
with  Socinians,  spent  in  acquiring  ideas  upon  every 
subject  of  speculative  and  experimental  truth,  is 
an  ordeal  to  which  Tio  Christian  parent  ought  to 
expose  his  son,  however  great  his  confidence  in  the 
correctness  of  his  principles,  and  the  vigour  of  his 
mind. 

From  Harvard  University  press  issues  the  North 
American  Review,  beyond  all  comparison  the  first 
literary  journal  in  the  United  States.  The  reputed 
editor  is  Professor  Everett,  and  it  evinces  in  him 
.and  his  coadjutors  talents  and  acquirements,  liter- 
ary and  philosophical,  of  a  very  superior  order. 
Would  that  its  theological  opinions  were  from  a 
purer  source  ! — happily  they  are  but  seldom  ob- 
truded. 

At  Boston  I  visited  another  collection  of  ana- 
tomical preparations  in  wax,  by  a  Dr.  Williams. 
A  full  length  figure,  modelled  from  the  body  of  a 
criminal,  exhibits  the  exterior  muscles  ;  and  various 
other  models  represent  portions  of  the  interior  me- 


84  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

chanism  of  the  human  frame,  and  the  different 
stages  of  some  of  its  most  important  functions; 
they  were  beautifully  executed,  but  I  am  not  quali- 
fied to  pronounce  upon  their  anatomical  accuracy. 

Boston  is  rich  in  public  libraries,  and  among 
these  the  Athenaeum  claims  pre-eminence.  This 
institution  contains  a  library  of  about  20,000  vo- 
lumes. The  regulations  prevent  the  books  from 
being  taken  out  of  the  rooms,  but  there  are  reading 
desks  for  the  subscribers,  and  strangers  introduced 
by  them,  at  which  in  the  most  perfect  silence  they 
extract  the  mental  nourishment  which  the  volumes 
afford.  A  copy  of  Bowyers'  edition  of  Hume's 
History  of  England  was  pointed  out  to  me ;  I  ob- 
served also  many  of  the  best  editions  of  the  ancient 
classics,  and  some  splendid  volumes  of  engravings, 
and  works  on  natural  history.  The  librarian  in- 
formed me  that  to  one  London  bookseller  alone, 
they  had  paid  for  books  upwards  of  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars;  £2700  sterling.  In  works  on  Amer- 
ican history,  the  collection  is  said  to  be  quite  un- 
rivalled. The  Athenaeum,  although  richest  in  the 
literary  department,  is  intended  to  be  also  a  de- 
pository for  curious  specimens  of  natural  and  arti- 
ficial productions.  It  possesses  a  considerable 
number  of  Tassie's  casts  from  antique  gems,  with 
a  few  busts,  and  a  valuable  collection  of  coins  and 
medals. 

The  Athenaeum  was  incorporated  in  1807,  and 
a  stock  subscribed  in  shares  of  150  dollars,  to  the 


ATHENAEUM — -BENEVOLENT  ACT.  85 

amount  of  about  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
To  attempt  such  an  institution  was  highly  honour- 
able to  Boston,  and  to  succeed  in  it  was  still  more 
so;  it  marks  a  greatly  advanced  state  of  society, 
in  respect  of  taste  and  intellectual  refinement,  and 
is  of  itself  a  sufficient  answer  to  much  of  the  coarse 
abuse  with  which  the  American  character  has  been 
assailed.4 

Boston  is  by  many  reputed  the  most  hospitable 
of  all  the  large  cities  in  the  United  States.  It  be- 
comes not  a  wanderer  who  has  experienced  kind- 
ness and  attention  wherever  he  has  gone  to  exalt 
one  city  at  the  expense  of  others,  but  I  can  with 
safety  say,  that  I  have  met  with  nothing  in  Boston 
which  is  not  perfectly  in  harmony  with  such  a  re- 
putation. Let  me  however  record  an  act  of  the 
citizens  still  more  honourable  than  the  ordinary 
deeds  of  hospitality.  In  the  winter  of  1816  a 

*  The  American  newspapers  have  recently  announced  a  splendid 
instance  of  individual  liberality  to  this  institution.  A  Mr.  James 
Perkins  of  Boston,  of  the  house  of  Messrs.  J.  &  T.  H.  Perkins,  has 
presented  to  the  Athenseum,  for  the  better  accommodation  of  its  trea- 
sures, a  spacious  building  valued  at  20,000  dollars ;  .£4500  sterling. 
Amid  all  the  patronage  which  has  been  bestowed  on  literature  in  our 
native  country,  I  question  whether  we  could  point  to  an  instance  of 
equal  generosity  among  our  living  commercial  men.  Some  people 
become  liberal  in  the  distribution  of  their  property  when  death  is  at 
hand  and  they  can  hold  it  no  longer,  but  Mr.  Perkins  gives  his 
townsmen  the  benefit  of  his  commercial  prosperity  while  he  is  still 
among  them.  Mr.  Perkins,  as  might  indeed  be  inferred  from  the 
character  of  his  gift,  is  said  to  be  a  person  of  distinguished  literary 
attainments.  (1822.) 

VOL.  I.  H 


86  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

most  destructive  fire  desolated  a  great  part  of  the 
town  of  St.  John's,  in  Newfoundland.  When  the 
tidings  reached  Boston,  the  sensations  of  sympathy 
and  commiseration  were  instantaneous  and  power- 
ful. They  did  not  however  exhaust  themselves 
in  unavailing  expressions  of  regret ;  the  townsmen 
determined  that  their  kindly  feelings  should  be 
felt  as  well  as  heard  of.  Forgetful  that  the  year 
before  the  two  countries  had  been  enemies  to  each 
other,  forgetful  of  every  mercantile  jealousy,  and 
the  contested  right  to  fishing  on  the  banks  which 
America  was  eager  to  claim  and  Britain  reluctant 
to  concede — they  recollected*  only,  that  hundreds 
of  their  fellow  creatures  had  been  burned  out  of 
their  homes,  amid  the  frosts,  and  fogs,  and  snows, 
of  a  Newfoundland  winter,  and  that  a  great  part 
of  their  winter  provisions  had  pei'ished  in  the 
fiames.  That  very  day  a  vessel  was  chartered, 
and  a  full  cargo  of  rTbur,  meat,  and  other  pro- 
visions, industriously  collected  and  put  on  board ; 
I  believe  that  even  the  porters  and  carmen  on  the 
wharfs  laboured  gratuitously;  and  on  the  third 
day  the  vessel  left  the  harbour,  to  brave  the  hard- 
ships and  the  dangers  of  a  winter  passage  to  that 
inhospitable  shore.  HE  who  prompted  the  act  of 
humanity,  watched  over  the  means  employed  to 
accomplish  it ;  the  vessel  reached  Newfoundland  in 
safety,  entered  the  port,  discharged  her  cargo,  and 
returned,  with  the  overflowing  thanks  and  benedic- 
tions of  many  a  grateful  heart. 


STATE  OF  RELIGION.  87 

The  state  of  religion  in  the  capital  of  New 
England  is  far  from  cheering.  Whether  the 
contagious  influence  spread  from  Harvard  Uni- 
versity to  Boston,  or  from  Boston  to  it,  I  know 
not,  but  though  both  were  once  distinguished 
for  evangelical  sentiments,  both  are  now  alike 
characterized  by  the  lamentable  predominance  of 
Socinianism. 

There  are  in  the  town  about  twenty-five  churches, 
in  more  than  a  half  of  which  these  sentiments  are 
avowedly  or  disguisedly  promulgated;  of  these 
one  is  episcopalian  in  its  ecclesiastical  system,  and 
uses  a  prayer  book  which  has  been  altered  in 
accommodation  to  these  sentiments.  It  is  distress- 
ing to  think  that  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans, 
whose  conscientious  adherance  to  the  most  im- 
portant religious  truths  drove  them  from  their 
native  land,  should  have  departed  so  widely  from 
adherance  to  those  doctrines  which  are  the  only 
foundation  of  a  sinner's  hope. 

The  other  churches  in  Boston  are,  three  Epis- 
copalian, four  Baptist,  one  of  which  is  entirely  of 
blacks,  two  Congregational,  two  Methodist,  two 
Universalist,  and  one  Romish. 

I  have  heard  five  discourses  in  Boston ;  two  of 
them  in  a  Congregational  church,  from  men  of  very 
considerable  talent  and  determined  zeal  for  evan- 
gelical sentiments.  One  of  them  illustrated  the  an- 
swer to  Pilate's  question,  "  What  is  truth  ?"  and 
combated  with  much  earnestness  and  ability  the 
H  2 


LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

doctrines  of  that  large  class  who  in  Boston  so  vehe- 
mently oppose  it. 

The  other  two  discourses  were  by  the  Baptist 
minister  who  was  so  conspicuous  in  the  procession 
on  the  Fourth  of  July ;  they  were  respectable  in 
talent  and  unexceptionable  in  doctrine.  Between 
sermons  on  the  Sabbath  I  saw  him  baptize  two  per- 
sons, in  presence  of  two  or  three  hundred  specta- 
tors. In  the  afternoon  he  dispensed  the  ordinance 
of  the  supper  to  a  large  congregation,  as  he  is  ac- 
customed to  do  once  a  month,  and  took  occasion 
to  remark  that  it  was  twenty  eight  years,  that  very 
day,  since  he  had  first  presided  among  them  on  a 
similar  occasion.  The  males  and  females  of  the 
congregation  occupied  different  pews,  and  the  latter 
were  by  far  the  more  numerous. 

The  mode  of  conducting  worship  in  both  these 
churches  was  similar.  The  psalms  and  hymns  used 
are  chiefly  those  of  Dr.  Watts,  and  the  singing  is 
left  entirely  to  a  choir,  perched  in  front  of  the  gal- 
lery with  their  music  books  before  them,  and  aided 
by  instruments.  This  is  a  cold  and  very  spiritless 
substitute  for  the  united  worship  of  the  congrega- 
tion. It  was  in  fact  a  mere  musical  parade,  for 
while  the  singers  rose  and  performed  every  one 
else  kept  his  seat  in  silence,  and  the  scene  was 
nothing  calculated  to  awaken  or  sustain  the  fervour 
of  grateful  devotional  feeling.  How  inconsistent 
with  every  right  idea  of  social  worship,  to  see  a  man 
after  the  service  was  over  unscrewing  a  clarionet, 


FROG  CONCERT FIREFLIES.  89 

putting  the  pieces  into  a  leathern  bag,  and  with  the 
utmost  indifference  and  unconcern  stuffing  the 
whole  into  his  pocket  ! 

There  are  several  Sabbath  Schools  in  Boston, 
one  of  which  I  visited.  It  was  conducted  in  the 
English  style ;  there  were  six  teachers  present,  and 
they  informed  me  that  there  were  about  one  hun- 
dred scholars  on  their  list,  but  not  a  half  of  that 
number  were  in  attendance. 

Within  the  last  three  weeks  I  have  begun  to  ex- 
perience the  heat  of  an  American  Summer.  The 
Thermometer  at  mid-day  has  ranged  generally  from 
80  to  90  Degrees,  and  on  last  Sabbath,  which  was 
the  hottest  day  of  all,  it  stood  thus ;  at  half  past  Six 
A.  M.  81°,  at  Ten  90°,  at  Noon  93°,  half  past  Two 
P.  M.  96i°,  Five  94°,  Ten  82°. 

You  have  read  Miss  Edgeworth's  tale  of  "  To- 
morrow," and  will  recollect  the  incident  of  the 
"  Frog  Concert."  Since  my  arrival  in  America  I 
have  had  frequent  opportunities  of  listening  to  these 
performances.  Marshes  and  ponds  are  filled  with 
shoals  of  the  Bull  Frog,  an  animal  four  or  five 
times  as  large  as  any  of  our  hopping  countrymen, 
who  whistles  away  almost  without  intermission. 
Some  of  the  frogs,  probably  the  younger  ones,  have 
a  pretty  shrill  note,  others  a  deeper  tone,  and  some 
tickle  the  auditory  organ  by  a  perpetual  trill.  The 
combination  of  these  various  strains  produces  an 
effect  not  altogether  unmusical,  and  the  distance  to 
which  the  sound  reaches  is  very  great;  sometimes 
H3 


90  LETTER  III. — BOSTON. 

more  than  a  mile.  At  first  I  enjoyed  it  pretty 
much,  but  the  perpetuity  with  which  it  is  continued 
makes  it  exceedingly  tiresome,  and  to  be  kept 
awake  during  the  night  by  their  monotonous  tune 
makes  one  very  apt  to  lose  temper  at  such  untimely 
serenades. 

Let  me  introduce  you  to  another  of  my  Ameri- 
can acquaintances,  the  Firefly;  more  engaging  in 
its  manners  than  the  other.  Myriads  of  this  bril- 
liant little  insect  float  through  the  air  in  the  sum- 
mer evening.  The  spark  of  light  which  they  emit 
is  of  vivid  brightness,  and  from  the  fluttering  of 
their  wings  twinkles  incessantly.  Moore  in  one  of 
his  songs,  has  made  a  pleasing  allusion  to  these 
meteoric  atoms — 

"  She  is  gone  to  the  Lake  of  the  Dismal  Swamp, 
Where  all  night  long  by  her  Firefly  lamp, 
She  paddles  her  white  canoe." 

Unlike  the  Mosquito,  which  is  a  great  annoyance 
here,  the  Firefly  neither  sings  nor  bites ;  it  flutters 
and  sparkles  its  little  hour,  and  passes  away — an 
apt  emblem  of  many  a  thoughtless  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  the  human  race. 


LETTER  IV. 

APPEARANCE  OF  A  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN — NEW  HAVEN — SCENERY 

ANECDOTES    OF    THE    REGICIDES    OF    CHARLES    I. ANCIENT 

AND    MODERN    BURYING    GROUNDS A    FUNERAL— -CHARACTER 

OF    THE    NEW    ENGLANDERS THEIR     FONDNESS    FOR    SCOTISH 

POETRY    AND    NOVELS STATE  OF    EDUCATION SCHOOL    FUND 

STATE    OF    RELIGION ECCLESIASTICAL     SYSTEM UNUSUAL 

OBSERVANCE  OF  THE  SABBATH SERMONS SABBATH   SCHOOLS. 

New  Haven,  Connecticut,  July,  1818. 

THERE  is  nothing  in  Britain  that  bears  any  resem- 
blance to  a  New  England  town,  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  convey  to  you  an  adequate  idea  of  its  singular 
neatness. 

The  houses  are  generally  of  wood,  painted 
white,  and  decorated  with  Venetian  blinds  of  a 
brilliant  green.  The  solid  frame  work  of  the 
walls  is  covered  externally  with  thin  planks,  called 
by  Americans  clapboards,  which  overlap  each  other 
from  the  eaves  downward,  and  serve  effectually  to 
exclude  rain.  The  roof  is  covered  with  shingles, 
which  are  thin  slips  of  wood  put  on  like  slates, 
and  painted  of  a  dark  blue.  The  buildings  are  in 
general  about  two  stories  in  height;  the  door  is 
decorated  with  a  neat  portico,  and  very  frequently 
a  projecting  piazza,  most  grateful  in  hot  weather, 


94  LETTER  IV. — NEW  HAVEN. 

with  benches  under  it,  extends  alon^j  the  whole 
front  of  the  house.  Mouldings  and  minute  de- 
corations of  various  kinds  are  carried  round  the 
principal  projections.  A  garden  is  nc.  unfrequent 
behind,  and  a  neat  wooden  railing  in  front,  en- 
closing a  grass  plot  and  a  few  trees.  Such  houses 
would  soon  look  rusty  and  weather  beaten,  were 
they  in  our  climate,  but  they  enjoy  here  a  purer 
atmosphere,  and  the  smoke  of  coal  fires  is  unknown. 
The  painting  is  renewed  about  once  a  year,  which 
serves  to  preserve  the  wood  for  a  long  time. 

The  churches,  or  meeting  houses  as  they  are 
more  generally  called,  are  in  the  smaller  towns 
also  of  wood,  and  with  the  addition  of  a  steeple 
and  a  gilt  weathercock,  resemble  very  much  the 
other  buildings.  In  the  large  towns  they  are  of 
brick  or  stone,  but  retain  in  almost  all  cases  the 
green  Venetian  blinds  upon  the  windows. 

The  streets  are  wide  and  generally  run  off,  at 
right  angles  to  each  other,  from  a  large  open 
square  covered  with  green  turf,  in  the  centre  of 
the  town ;  the  churches,  town-house,  and  an  inn 
or  two,  not  unfrequently  front  this  green.  Gravel 
walks  skirt  many  of  the  streets,  and  occasionally 
rows  of  limes,  or  poplars.  The  agreeable  succes- 
sion of  gardens,  grass  plots,  trees,  foot  walks,  and 
buildings,  gives  an  air  of  rural  quietness  to  the 
town ;  and  the  open  space  which  frequently  inter- 
venes between  one  house  and  another,  prevents 
much  of  the  danger  which  would  otherwise  arise 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  TOWN.  95 

from  fire.  ^Every  thing  betokens  an  unusual  share 
of  homely  simplicity  and  comfort,  and  the  absence 
at  once  of  great  riches  and  of  great  poverty. 

New  Hi>yen  possesses  most  of  the  distinctive 
peculiarities  which  I  have  now  noticed,  but  com- 
bines with  them  much  of  the  compactness,  dura- 
bility, and  bustle,  which  we  usually  consider  inse- 
parable from  a  town.  The  churches  and  a  great 
many  of  the  dwelling  houses  are  of  brick,  a  few 
even  of  stone,  and  two  or  three  of  the  streets  are 
very  closely  built.  The  numerous  buildings  also 
of  Yale  College,  all  of  brick,  and  constructed  with 
regularity  and  neatness,  complete  its  claims  to 
superiority.  The  population  of  New  Haven  is 
about  7000. 

The  country  around  New  Haven  is  very  pictur- 
esque. Behind  the  town,  at  a  distance  of  about 
two  miles,  is  an  amphitheatre  of  rugged  hills,  not 
unlike  some  of  our  Scotish  scenery ;  in  front  is  an 
inlet  from  Long  Island  Sound  affording  a  safe  and 
commodious  harbour  ;  to  the  right  and  left  a  richly 
cultivated  country  relieved  by  patches  of  forest, 
and  in  wide  expanse  before  it  the  blue  waves  of  the 
sea  rolling  in  magnificence.  Two  bare  precipices 
called  East  and  West  Rock,  400  feet  high  and 
about  two  miles  apart,  form  part  of  the  semicir- 
cular range;  they  are  prominent  features  in  the 
landscape,  and  events  in  the  annals  of  our  native 
country  with  which  they  are  associated,  impart 
to  them  that  traditional  charm  which  is  so  often 


96  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

wanting  in  American  scenery.  In  the  fastnesses  of 
these  rocks  some  of  the  regicides  of  Charles  1st 
found  shelter  from  their  pursuers,  when  the  agents 
of  his  profligate  son  hunted  them  for  their  lives. 
Their  story  is  so  interesting  that  I  cannot  forbear 
transcribing  a  portion  of  it  from  an  early  number 
of  the  Quarterly  Review.1  The  event  with  which  it 
is  introduced  took  place  during  a  war  between  the 
New  England  Settlers  and  the  Indians,  which 
ended  in  the  utter  extermination  of  the  aboriginal 
tribe,2  by  which  the  Eastern  coast  of  the  United 
States  had  been  previously  possessed. — 

"  The  most  impressive  circumstance  in  the 
course  of  this  war  occurred  at  Hadley :  the  Indians 
having  laid  Deersfield  in  ashes,  surprised  Hadley 
during  the  time  of  public  worship.  The  men  of 
the  town  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  their 
arms  with  them  when  they  attended  divine  service, 
— they  were  however  panic-stricken  and  confused, 
and  in  all  human  probability  not  a  soul  would  have 
escaped  alive,  had  not  an  old  and  venerable  man, 
whose  dress  was  different  from  that  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  whom  no  one  had  seen  before,  suddenly 
appeared  among  them ;  he  rallied  them,  put  him- 
self at  their  head,  gave  his  orders  like  one  accus- 
tomed to  battle,  led  them  on,  routed  the  enemy, 

1  Vide  Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  II.  P.  324. 

3  The  tragical  death  of  their  high  minded  but  unfortunate  chief, 
"  PHILIP  of  POKANOKET,"  forms  the  subject  of  one  of  Mr.  Irving's 
affecting  papers  in  the  second  volume  of  the  SKETCH  BOOK. 


REGICIDES  OF  CHARLES -I.  97 

and  when  the  victory  was  complete,  was  no  where 
to   be  found.     This   deliverer,  whom    the   people 
thus  preserved  from  death  and  torments  long  be- 
lieved to  be  an  angel,  was  General  Goffe,  one  of 
the  men  who  sat  in  judgment  upon  Charles   1st. 
His  adventures  in  America  are  deeply  interesting. 
He  and  his  father-in-law  General  Whalley,  another 
of  the  King's  judges,  left  England  a  few  days  before 
the  Restoration ;  they  landed  at  Boston,  waited  on 
Endicot  the   Governor,  to  inform  him  who   they 
were,  took  up  their  residence  in   a  neighbouring 
village,  and  were  greatly  respected,  till  the  hue  and 
cry  followed  them   from   Barbadoes.     They  were 
then  warned  to  make  their  escape,  and  accordingly 
they  removed  to  New  Haven,  a  place  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  distant.     Her&  they  owed  their 
I  lives  to  the  intrepidity  of  the  minister  John  Daven- 
!  port,  who  when  their  pursuers  arrived  preached  to 
ij  the  people  from  this  text.     '  Take  counsel,  execute 
ii  judgment,  make  thy  shadow   as  the  night  in   the 
i  midst  of  the  noon  day,  hide  the  outcasts,   bewray 
•  not  him  that  wandereth.     Let  mine  outcasts  dwell 
1  with'thee,  Moab, — be  thou  a  covert  to  them  from 
the  face  of  the  spoiler.'3     Large  rewards  were  of- 
fered for  their  apprehension,  or  for  any  information 
which  might  lead  to  it.     Davenport  was  threatened, 
for  it  was  known  that  he  had  harboured  them : — 
upon  hearing  that  he  was  in  danger,  they  offered 

1  Isaiah  xvi.  3,  4. 
VOL.  I.  I 


98  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

to  deliver  themselves  up,  and  actually  gave  notice 
to  the  Deputy  Governor,  of  the  place  of  their  con- 
cealment; but  their  friend  had  not  preached  in 
vain,  and  the  magistrate  took  no  other  notice  than 
to  let  them  be  advised  not  to  betray  themselves. 
Their  hiding-place  was  a  cave  on  the  top  of  West 
Rock,  some  two  or  three  miles  from  the  town. 
Once,  when  they  ventured  out  for  provisions,  they 
hid  themselves  under  a  bridge  while  their  pursuers 
passed  over  it : — once  they  met  the  sheriff  who  had 
the  warrant  for  their  apprehension  in  his  pocket, — 
but  they  fought  for  their  lives,  and  before  he  could 
procure  help  escaped  into  the  woods.  After  lurk- 
ing two  or  three  years  in  the  cave,  or  in  the  houses 
of  their  friends,  they  found  it  necessary  to  remove, 
and  were  received  at  Hadley  by  Russell,  the  minis- 
ter of  the  place,  with  whom  they  were  concealed 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years.  Wh alley  died  at  Hadley 
in  1688,  and  about  a  year  afterwards  all  tradition 
of  Goffe  is  lost ; — one  is  willing  to  hope  that  he  re- 
turned to  England.  Colonel  Dixwell,  another  of 
the  King's  judges,  found  shelter  also  in  America; — 
he  visited  his  fellow  exiles  in  their  concealment, 
and  being  himself  unknown,  settled  and  married  at 
New  Haven  under  the  name  of  James  Davids. 
By  that  name  he  signed  his  will,  but  there  he  adds, 
to  it  his  own,  and  his  tomb -stone  is  shown  at  New 
Haven  with  only  the  initials  *  J.  D.  Esq.  deceased 
March  18,  in  the  82d  year  of  his  age,  1688'.  An- 
other stone  with  the  initials  *  E.  W.  Esq.'  is  tradi- 

9 


OLD  BURYING  GROUND.  99 

tionally  supposed  to  mark  the  grave  of  Whalley  : 
— if  it  be  so,  his  bones  must  have  been  removed 
there  by  Dixwell ;  an  affecting  act  of  pious  friend- 
ship." 

I  have  seen  both  the  grave  stones  which  are  here 
alluded  to;  they  still  stand  in  the  old  burying 
ground  behind  one  of  the  churches.  The  inscrip- 
tion on  the  first  is  in  rude  characters,  and  is  thus 

arranged  ; 

I  .  D  Esqr. 

Deceased  March  y 
18  in  y  82d  year  of 

his  age   16889. 

The  other  stone,  which  has  been  supposed  to 
commemorate  Whalley,4  must  have  been  erected 
over  some  other  person  whose  name  and  history 
have  been  lost,  for  the  date  which  has  been  gener- 
ally read  1688,  is  in  reality  1658.  The  mistake  has 
arisen  from  a  slight  injury  which  the  stone  has  in 
some  former  day  received,  and  which  has  imparted 

4  President  Dwight,  in  his  Travels,  which  have  been  recently  re- 
printed in  this  country,  communicates  some  additional  information 
respecting  these  interesting  men.  Whalley  had  been  secretly  buried 
by  his  kind  protector  Mr.  Russell,  and  liis  bones  were  many  years 
after  found  within  a  rude  tomb  of  mason  work,  covered  with  hewn 
flags,  outside  of  Mr.  Russell's  cellar  wall.  The  bones  were  discovered 
by  a  Mr.  Gaylord,  who  had  pulled  down  the  house  to  rebuild  it ;  he 
was  personally  known  to  Dr.  Dwight  and  communicated  to  him 
this  information.  "  After  Whalley 's  decease,"  adds  Dr.  Dwight, 
' '  Goffe  quited  Hadley,  went  into  Connecticut,  and  afterwards,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  to  the  neighbourhood  of  New  York.  There  he 
is  said  to  have  lived  some  time,  and  the  better  to  disguise  himself,  to 
12 


100  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

to  the  figure  5,  something  of  the  shape  of  an  8,  al- 
though it  is  still  quite  possible  to  decipher  its  ori- 
ginal form.     It  is  thus  arranged  : 
1658 
E.  W. 

None  of  these  relics  will  long  survive,  unless 
prompt  measures  are  adopted  for  their  preservation. 
The  ancient  burying  ground  is  no  longer  used,  the 
fence  around  it  has  gone  to  decay,  and  the  moss- 
grown  grave  stones  are  rapidly  disappearing  under 
the  dilapidating  attacks  of  idlers,  who  are  daily  de- 
facing these  frail  memorials  of  the  dust  which  sleeps 
below.  Many  of  them  have  been  transferred  to 
the  new  burying  place,  and  although  this  destroys 
completely  the  charm  of  associated  locality,  it  is 
better  that  they  should  be  preserved  any  where, 
than  destroyed  altogether.5  • 

The  new  cemetery  which  has  sprung  from  the 
ashes  of  the  old  one,  in  simplicity  of  arrangement 
and  elegance  of  monumental  decoration,  leaves  at  a 

have  carried  vegetables  at  times  to  market.  It  is  said  that  being  dis- 
covered here,  he  retired  secretly  to  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island, 
and  there  lived  with  a  son  of  Whalley  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life." — There  is  an  obscure  and  very  doubtful  tradition  that  he  was 
buried  at  Hadley.  President  Duight's  Travels,  Vol,  I-  p-  353. 
American  Edition- 

&  An  attentive  and  valuable  correspondent  writes  me,  that  the 
whole  of  the  old  grave  stones  have  now  been  removed  to  the  new  bury- 
ing ground,  with  the  exception  of  the  two  which  are  above  alluded  to. 
The  ground  has  been  levelled  and  sown  with  grass,  and  a  marble 
slab  affixed  on  the  wall  of  the  church,  records  the  use  to  which  it  was 


NEW  BURYING  GROUND.          101 

great  distance  all  others  that  I  have  any  where 
seen.  It  is  in  shape  an  oblong  square,  divided  by 
a  regular  succession  of  avenues,  crossing  each  other 
at  right  angles  and  skirted  by  rows  of  Lorabardy 
poplars.  The  divisions  which  are  thus  formed 
are  subdivided  into  spaces  sufficient  for  family 
burying  places,  which  are  surrounded  by  a  neat 
wooden  railing  painted  white.  There  is  scarcely  a 
grave  which  has  not  a  monument  of  one  kind  or 
other,  and  with  the  exception  of  those  transferred 
from  the  old  burying  ground,  they  are  almost  uni- 
versally of  white  or  green  marble.  Some  of  those 
of  white  marble  were  executed  in  Italy ;  the  green 
marble  is  found  in  abundance  about  two  miles  off, 
and  is  thought  by  some  to  bear  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  Verd  Antique.  The  monuments  consist  of 
obelisks,  tables,  and  upright  slabs  at  the  head  and 
foot  of  the  grave ;  the  obelisks  are  ranged  in  the 
centre  of  the  principal  subdivisions,  in  parallel 
rows,  and  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  The  in- 
scriptions which  are  cut  on  the  wrhite  marble  are 
generally  painted  black,  those  on  the  green  are  gilt 
and  have  a  very  rich  effect. 

While  the  monuments  in  the  old  burying  ground 
seem  devoted  to  ruin,  those  in  the  new  one  al- 
though accessible  to  every  passenger  are  treated 

formerly  appropriated.     I  am  afraid  that  the  good  taste  which  dic- 
tated the  exception  in  favour  of  these  supposed  memorials  of  King 
Charles'  judges,  will  not  long  avail  them,  if  as  I  suppose  the  stones 
are  left  altogether  without  protection.     (1822) 
13 


102  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

with  the  most  scrupulous  respect.  A  neat  fence 
surrounds  the  cemetery  but  openings  are  left  at  re- 
gular intervals,  from  which  numerous  foot  walks 
cross  the  ground.  The  soil  is  composed  of  a  light 
sand,  and  shoots  from  the  poplars  are  springing  up 
so  numerously  that  they  threaten  to  overrun  it. 
Except  the  slight  wooden  railing  there  is  no  kind 
of  fence  around  the  graves ;  they  are  altogether 
free  from  those  unsightly  cages  of  cast  iron  by  which 
our  burying  grounds  in  Glasgow  are  disfigured,6 
and  the  enclosures  are  not  defaced  by  those  quaint 
emblems  of  mortality  and  grief,  which  so  often 
with  us  betray  the  bad  taste  of  the  proprietors.  A 
becoming  respect  is  shown  to  the  memory  of  the 
departed ;  and  an  air  of  impressive  solemnity  per- 
vades the  whole  enclosure,  which  is  not  counter- 
acted by  any  of  those  lugubrious  and  not  unfre- 
quently  ludicrous  allegorical  devices,  and  misap- 
plied quotations  from  scripture,  which  meet  us  at 
every  step  in  our  more  ancient  repositories  of  the 
dead.  I  have  visited  every  shrine  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  have  heard  the  marble-hearted  verger 
dole  out,  in  monotonous  cadence,  the  dreary  cata- 
logue of  names  which  are  entombed  and  commem- 
orated there ;  the  damp  of  the  long  drawn  aisles 
chilled  me  to  the  heart,  and  I  trod  upon  the  ashes 
of  Monarchs,  Barons,  and  Crusading  Knights, 

6  The  Medical  School  connected  with  Yale  College,  is  under  a 
bond  to  the  State  Legislature  that  no  bodies  shall  be  taken  from  the 
New  Haven  buryifcg  ground,  for  anatomical  purposes. 


NEW  BURYING  GROUND.  103 

whose  sculptured  figures,  scattered  around,  were 
covered  with  the  mutilations  and  dust  of  many 
generations ;  yet  I  doubt  whether  sympathy  with 
my  kindred  dust  were  as  strongly  excited  there,  as 
in  the  burying  ground  at  New  Haven.  It  seems, 
as  if  the  walls  of  the  Gothic  Cathedral  had  been 
intended  to  commemorate,  that  the  departed  were 
the  great  and  the  honourable  of  the  earth,  rather 
than  that  the  great  and  the  honourable  as  well  as 
the  lowly  and  obscure  are  doomed  to  be  the  prey 
of  the  spoiler.  It  comes  more  closely  home  to  my 
feelings  and  circumstances,  to  read  on  the  tablets  of 
the  more  humble  burying  ground — 

"  Here  rests  his  head  upon  a  lap  of  earth, 
A  youth,  to  fortune  and  to  fame  unknown." 

It  shows  good  sense  and  right  feeling,  that  this 
cemetery  is  left  open  to  the  foot  of  the  fortuitous 
passenger ; — levity  may  here  be  taught  to  reflect, 
inconsiderate  youth  to  ponder  the  path  which  is 
before  him,  and  perchance  he  who  has  been  reft 
of  those  who  were  the  dearest  companions  of  his 
earthly  pilgrimage,  may  be  soothed  by  being  re- 
minded that  a  few  light-winged  years,  at  most,  are 
all  that  intervene  between  him  and  the  world  of  dis- 
embodied spirits.  Happy  for  him  and  them  if  they 
"  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,"  that  their  latter 
end  may  be  like  his. 

Were  I  to  venture  a  criticism  upon  this  burying 


104  LETTER    IV. NEW    HAVEN. 

ground,  I  should  say  that  it  is  of  too  unvarying  a 
level,  the  arrangement  too  precisely  angular,  and 
the  numerous  poplars  too  stiff  and  formal ; — where 
there  is  so  much  to  admire  however  it  is  unreason- 
able to  search  minutely  for  deficiencies,  and  no  one 
can  walk  through  it  without  the  spontaneous  ac- 
knowledgment, that  it  is  highly  creditable  to  the 
taste  and  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Haven. 

It  has  been  my  lot  to  make  one  in  the  ranks  of 
a  funeral  procession,  which  followed  to  this  ground 
the  remains  of  an  amiable  young  man,  cut  short  in 
the  morning  of  his  days  and  the  full  bloom  of 
health,  by  a  sudden  and  afflicting  accident. 

The  company  which  assembled  to  this  funeral 
was  of  both  sexes  and  very  numerous  ;  none  how- 
ever wore  mourning,  except  those  who  were  closely 
related  to  the  family.  Special  invitations  to  a 
funeral  are  unknown ;  all  are  expected  to  be  present 
who  feel  any  interest  in  the  family  of  the  deceased. 
When  all  were  within  doors  who  could  be  con- 
veniently admitted,  a  clergyman  offered  up  a  pretty 
long  and  very  impressive  prayer ;  after  which  the 
funeral  procession  was  arranged.  The  deceased 
was  at  the  period  of  his  death  a  student  of  Yale 
College,  and  his  late  class-fellows  with  crape 
upon  their  hats  and  arms  walked  first  in  order. 
The  Professors  followed  them.  Next  came  the 
Body,  drawn  on  a  small  car  or  hearse,  and  at- 
tended by  six  students  as  pall  bearers.  The  coffin 


FUNERAL.  105 

was  of  plain  mahogany ;  the  upper  part  of  the  lid 
hinged,  and  bearing  a  silvered  plate  inscribed  with 
the  initials  and  the  age  of  the  deceased.  The 
family  followed  the  body  in  a  coach.  To  them 
succeeded  the  other  relatives  in  coaches  and  gigs ; 
then  a  few  individuals  on  foot  who  were  in  habits 
of  particular  intimacy  with  the  family ;  the  pro- 
cession was  closed  by  a  multitude  walking  two  and 
two,  and  a  promiscuous  attendance  on  the  side 
walks  who  did  not  link  themselves  to  the  ranks. 

On  arriving  at  the  burying  ground,  all  left  their 

carriages.     The  father  and  mother,  brothers  and 

isters,  of  the  departed  youth,  stood  at  the  upper 

end  of  the  grave,  the  clergyman  and  the  near  re- 

atives  beside  them,  and  the  pall  bearers  lowered 

the   coffin   into   its  narrow  abode.     After  a  little 

earth  had  been  thrown  in,  the  clergyman,  address- 

ng  himself  to  the  surrounding  company,  thanked 

hem   in   the  name  of  the  family   for   the   tokens 

of  sympathy  which  the  melancholy  event  had  drawn 

rom  them,  and  concluded  by  a  short  but  solemn 

address   on   the   subjects  of  Death  and  Eternity. 

During   the   clergyman's   address    all    stood    un« 

:overed    and    profoundly    attentive,    the    relations 

hen  returned  to  their  carriages,  and  the  rest  of  the 

issembly  dispersed. 

The  attendance  of  the  Professors  and  students 
:>n  this  occasion,  arose  from  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  the  event ;  in  other  respects  the  funeral 
s  conducted  according  to  customary  form. 


LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

Education,  which  prevails  much  more  universally 
throughout  the  New  England  States  than  in  any 
other  portion  of  the  Union,  and  is  frequently 
accompanied  with  religious  instruction,  has  given 
to  the  natives  a  very  decided  cast  of  national  char- 
acter, resembling  in  many  respects  that  for  which 
the  Scots  among  Europeans  have  long  been  dis- 
tinguished. The  kind  of  education  also  in  the 
two  countries  is  remarkably  similar;  it  is  more 
general  than  accurate,  and  more  useful  than  ele- 
gant; imparted  by  means  of  district  or  parochial 
schools,  and  in  this  country  almost  entirely  without 
expense  to  those  who  receive  it. 

The  characteristics  of  a  New  Englander  are  in- 
telligence, sobriety,  enterprise,  perseverance;  and 
when  he  finds  his  range  at  home  too  limited  to 
admit  of  a  sufficiently  successful  application  of 
these  qualities,  he  betakes  himself  to  distant  re- 
gions, and  traverses  one  State  after  another,  till  he 
finds  some  nook  in  which  he  can  establish  himself 
with  advantage. 

In  the  Southern  and  Western  States  many  of  the 
most  successful  merchants,  the  most  industrious 
farmers,  the  most  money-making  land  speculators, 
are  natives  of  New  England ;  and  scarcely  is  there 
a  station  in  society  or  a  mode  of  obtaining  a  live- 
lihood, in  which  there  will  not  be  found  a  full  pro- 
portion of  them.  If  you  meet  a  waggon  in  some 
remote  country  road  with  a  cheerful  looking  family, 
and  a  tall  slender  figure  whistling  along  with  an 


A  YANKEE.  107 

axe  over  his  shoulder  —  it  is  a  Yankee7  backwoods- 
man, on  his  march  for  the  wilderness  of  Illinois 
or  Tennessee,  where  he  will  build  a  log  house, 
clear  a  few  acres  of  land,  sell  the  whole  at  a  profit 
to  the  next  comer,  and  start  with  the  waggon  a 
second  time,  to  penetrate  some  hundreds  of  miles 
farther  into  the  woods,  and  repeat  the  process.  If 
you  see  at  the  turnpike  gate  of  a  country  town  a 
light  carriage,  resembling  a  British  taxed  cart, 
built  up  all  round  with  a  pile  of  assorted  packing 
boxes  and  trunks  —  it  is  the  travelling  store  of  a 
New  England  pedlar,  who  is  marketing  his  wares, 
shopping,  or  selling,  or  buying,  as  he  and  his  cus- 
tomers can  agree  about  it,  guessing  away  with  every 
one  he  meets,  but  turning  all  to  good  account  in 
the  end.  In  all  those  bye  ways  of  getting  on  in 
the  world,  for  which  America  affords  unexampled 
facilities,  none  are  found  to  succeed  like  the  natives 
of  New  England. 

The  consequence  of  this  adventurous  spirit  is, 
that  they  enjoy  along  with  their  prosperity  a  con- 
iiderable  share  of  the  envy  and  ill  will  which  suc- 
cessful rivalry  generally  excites.  Perhaps  there 
are  instances  in  which  cunning,  rather  than  hon- 


7  The  term  Yankee  which  we  apply  indiscriminately,  as  a  nickname, 
to  all  the  natives  of  America,  is  here  restricted  in  its  application  to  the 
natives  of  the  New  England  States,  who  in  general  consider  it  as 
by  no  means  a  reproachful  appellation.  I  have  seen  an  advertise- 
ment, in  a  Baltimore  Newspaper,  commencing,  "  A  YAKKEE  re- 
cently arrived  in  Baltimore  wishes  a  situation,"  &c. 


108  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

esty,  has  characterized  their  enterprises ;  but  among 
so  many  adventurers  it  is  not  surprising  that  some 
should  be  unprincipled,  and  of  course  a  well  edu- 
cated and  ingenious  rogue  has  a  fearful  advantage 
over  ignorant  and  stupid  ones.  From  whatever 
cause  it  may  have  arisen,  it  is  certain  that  in  the 
south  there  is  a  strong  prejudice  against  them ;  and 
it  is  very  customary  there  to  say  many  hard  things 
of  the  Yankees,  which  are  true  only  of  a  small 
number,  and  those  the  very  worst  of  them. 

The  New  England  character  is  very  favourably 
exhibited  in  New  Haven,  for  the  simplicity  and 
sincerity  of  the  ancient  Puritans  may  be  still  seen 
strongly  marked  in  their  descendants.  Plain  and 
frugal  in  their  domestic  habits,  they  exhibit  little 
of  that  artificial  polish  which,  like  varnish,  fre- 
quently disguises  very  worthless  materials ;  and 
a  stranger  is  not  mortified  by  professions  without 
services,  and  show  without  substance.  At  some 
of  their  homely  but  pleasant  evening  parties,  I  have 
found  myself  invested  with  no  small  degree  of  tem- 
porary importance ;  for  whoever  can  talk  from  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  Loch  Katrine,  the  Troshachs, 
and  Stirling  Castle,  or  the  other  classic  spots  im- 
mortalized in  Scott's  Poems  and  the  "  Tales  of  my 
Landlord,"  is  listened  to  by  old  and  young  with 
open-mouthed  attention,  and  his  national  vanity 
may  almost  lead  him  to  imagine  that  he  is  for  the 
time  the  accredited  representative  of  "  the  Great 
Unknown."  Should  he  ask  the  transatlantic  ad- 


SCOTISH  NOVELS — DISTRICT  SCHOOLS.         109 

mirers  of  the  Antiquary  and  Rob  Roy,  to  translate 
to  him  some  of  the  wise  saws  of  Edie  Ochiltree 
and  Bailie  Jarvie,8  which  they  quote  with  such 
rapture,  he  cannot  fail  to  be  amused  at  the  good 
humoured  simplicity  with  which  they  take  Scotish 
wit  upon  trust,  and  contrive  to  be  amused  with 
what  they  do  not  half  understand. 

The  district  schools  of  Connecticut  are  sup- 
ported by  what  is  termed  the  School  Fund,  whose 
origin  was  as  follows.  By  the  charter  of  Charles 
the  Second,  the  colony  of  Connecticut  extended 
completely  across  the  continent  to  the  Pacific 
ocean,  within  the  parallels  of  latitude  which  now 
bound  it ;  of  course  it  included  a  large  portion  of 
the  present  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. 
About  ten  years  after  the  revolution,  the  claim  to 
the  portion  of  Pennsylvania  was  by  compromise 
abandoned,  but  a  vast  tract  beyond  the  limits  of 
that  State  was  sold  by  Connecticut,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds 1,200,000  dollars,  £270,000  sterling,  for 
ever  appropriated  to  the  support  of  free  schools 
within  the  State.  This  fund  has  increased  to 
about  1,700,000  dollars,  £382,500  sterling,  the 

8  Incorporated  trades  are  altogether  unknown  here,  and  there  are 
no  Deacons  among  them  but  those  of  the  congregational  churches,  who 
are  always  designated,  even  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  by  their 
official  title ;  the  consequence  is,  that  the  Bailie's  "  father  the  Dea- 
con, honest  man  !"  in  place  of  being  regarded  as  president  of  the 
craft  of  weavers,  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  very  staid  and  demure 
elder  of  the  venerable  Kirk,  and  of  course  a  very  pious  and  very 
worthy  man,  which  readily  accounts  for  the  Bailie's  respect  for  his 
VOL.  I.  K 


110  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

annual  income  of  which,  upwards  of  80,000  dol- 
lars, above  £18,000  sterling,  is  distributed  a- 
mong  a  population  of  about  270,000  persons. 
This  presents,  as  was  remarked  to  me,  the  singu- 
lar spectacle  of  a  larger  sum  of  money  being 
paid  out  of  the  public  treasury  for  the  education 
of  the  people,  than  all  the  amount  that  is  received 
by  it  in  taxes  and  contributions  of  every  kind ; — a 
state  of  things  certainly  no  where  else  ever  known 
in  the  world. 

In  the  schools  which  are  thus  established,  every 
citizen  has  a  legal  claim  to  have  his  children  edu- 
cated, and  all  are  compellable  by  law  to  send  them. 
In  most  districts  however,  the  funds  are  not  suffi- 
cient to  support  the  schools  for  more  than  a  half 
or  two  thirds  of  the  year;  in  many  of  them  the 
school  is  shut  when  the  fund  is  exhausted,  in 
others  the  inhabitants  assess  themselves  to  support 
it  during  the  interval.  English,  writing,  accounts, 
and  occasionally  a  little  mathematics,  are  the 
branches  taught,  and  1  believe  that  it  is  next  to  im- 
possible to  discover  in  the  State  a  white  native 
who  cannot  read  and  write.9 


memory.  Some  of  the  deacons  of  our  Trades'  House  would,  I 
suspect,  find  themselves  rather  awkwardly  beset,  if  called  upon  to 
exchange  situations  and  duties  with  those  of  a  similar  title  in  New 
Haven. 

9  The  early  settlers  of  Connecticut  showed  a  zeal  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  rising  generation,  equally  remarkable  and  honourable. 
"  In  the  year  1677,  to  render  the  existing  law  respecting  schools 


DISTRICT  SCHOOLS — YALE  COLLEGE.  Ill 

It  is  cause  of  regret  that  this  large  sum  of 
money  is  entirely  absorbed  by  these  elementary 
schools,  and  that  no  part  of  it  is  devoted,  to  liter- 
ary institutions  of  a  higher  order.  A  very  unac- 
countable but  general  prejudice  prevails  against 
any  such  appropriation,  and  Yale  College,  in  many 
respects  the  first  in  the  Union,  and  an  honour  to 
the  countiy,  is  left  to  rely  entirely  on  its  own  re- 
sources, while  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  people 
greatly  to  augment  its  efficiency  and  prosperity 
by  a  comparatively  trifling  donation  from  this 
ample  fund. 

There  is  a  Grammar  School  in  New  Haven,  en- 
dowed from  a  legacy  by  one  of  the  Governors  of 
the  State  named  Hopkins,  in  which  youths  are 
prepared  for  college,  and  which  enjoys  a  respec- 
table reputation ;  there  are  also  two  other  semin- 
aries of  a  superior  kind  to  the  district  schools.  Of 
the  minor  schools  the  teachers  of  about  three- 


more  effectual,  it  was  enacted  '  that  every  town  by  the  said  law 
ordered  to  keep  a  school,  that  shall  neglect  the  same  three  months 
in  the  year,  shall  forfeit  Five  Pounds  for  every  defect.'  "  In  the 
year  1690  an  additional  statute  was  passed,  "  wliich  after  reciting 
in  the  preamble  that  there  were  still  '  persons  unable  to  read  the 
English  tongue,  and  thereby  incapable  to  read  the  holy  word  of 
God,  or  the  good  laws  of  this  colony,'  among  other  provisions  con- 
tains the  following ;  '  that  the  grand  jurymen  in  each  town,  do  once 
in  a  year,  at  least,  visit  each  family  they  suspect  to  neglect  this  order, 
[to  teach  their  children  and  servants  to  <  read  distinctly  the  English 
tongue']  and  satisfy  themselves  whether  all  children  under  age,  and 
servants  in  such  suspected  families  can  read  die  English  tongue,  or 
K2 


112  LETTER  IV. — NEW  HAVEN. 

fourths  are  females,  according  to  the  ancient  Eng- 
lish custom.  Even  the  poor  blacks  participate  in 
the  prevalent  taste  for  education,  for  there  are  two 
schools  in  New  Haven  appropriated  to  them. 
Many  of  them,  I  am  assured,  are  able  to  read, 
write,  and  keep  accounts,  and  are  in  their  own 
sphere  of  life,  useful  and  respectable  members  of 
society.10 

Yale  College,  which  completes  the  provision 
made  for  education  in  Connecticut,  is  too  important 
to  be  passed  over  with  a  slight  notice,  and  shall 
form  the  subject  of  a  separate  communication. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  district  of  the 
Union  have  been  known  from  the  earliest  periods 
of  their  history  as  a  religious  people.  In  the  wilds 
of  America  they  sought  that  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  of  worship,  which  was  refused  them  at  home ; 
and  although  it  is  true,  that  they  did  not  always 
concede  to  others,  the  toleration  which  they  them- 


be  in  a  good  procedure  to  learn  the  same  or  not ;  and  if  they  find 
any  such  children  and  servants  not  taught,  as  their  years  are  capable 
of,  they  shall  return  the  names  of  the  parents  or  masters  of  the  said 
children  or  servants  to  the  next  county  court,'  &c.  The  penalty  is 
twenty  shillings  '  for  each  child  or  servant  whose  teaching  is  or  shall 
be  neglected,  Contrary  to  this  order.'  "  Vide  North  American  Re- 
view, No.  XXXIX.  pp.  382,  3.  in  an  article  containing  much 
interesting  information  relative  to  the  state  of  education  in  Con- 
necticut. 

10  In  building  Long  Wharf,  two  black  men  were  contractors  for 
executing  a  considerable  part  of  the  work,  where  the  water  is  16 
feet  deep.  Vide  Pres.  Dwight's  Statistical  Account  of  New  Haven. 


CHURCHES.  118 

selves  claimed,  this  inconsistency  between  principle 
and  practice  was,  unfortunately,  common  to  the 
early  reformers  of  almost  every  nation.  Popery 
had  so  long  exercised  its  torpedo  influence  upon  the 
thinking  faculties  of  man,  that  it  was  only  by  slow 
degrees  that  those  who  found  its  principles  intoler- 
able in  some  of  their  applications,  were  brought  to 
see  them  unjust,  and  therefore  inexpedient,  in  all. 
A  good  deal  there  is  in  the  conduct  of  the  early 
settlers,  of  which  it  would  be  vain  to  attempt  a  justi- 
fication ;  but,  taking  them  as  a  body,  they  were  dis- 
tinguished above  most  men  then  living,  by  their  at- 
tachment to  pure  doctrine  and  upright  practice. 
This  purity  of  doctrine,  as  has  been  already  noticed, 
has  been  in  part  of  the  country  lost  in  Socinianism ; 
but  the  State  of  Connecticut  is,  as  yet,  free  from 
this  contamination.  There  are  in  New  Haven  seven 
places  of  public  worship ;  the  College  chapel,  in 
which  there  is  stated  service,  three  Congregational, 
one  Episcopalian,  one  Methodist,11  and  one  Baptist 
chapel.  The  Episcopalian  congregation  was  form- 
ed in  1755,  that  of  the  Methodists  in  1807. 
The  Episcopalians  have  here  a  flourishing  theo- 
logical academy. 

The    Congregational   form   of    church  govern- 
ment, which  prevails    so   universally  in  this  part 


11  This  Methodist  chapel  was  blown  down  during  a  tremendous 
hurricane  on  the  21st  of  September  1821,  but  was  immediately  re- 
built. 

K3 


114  LETTER  IV. — NEW  HAVEN. 

of  the  country  is  of  a  peculiar  kind,  and  par- 
takes very  considerably  of  the  presby^erian  cha- 
racter. The  following  sketch  of  its  origin  and 
features,  I  extract  from  a  manuscript  account, 
politely  drawn  up  for  me  by  a  gentleman  of  this 
State. 

In  1708  an  assembly  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates, 
convened  at  Saybrook12  in  Connecticut  by  order 
of  the  colonial  government,  drew  up  articles  of 
doctrine  and  an  ecclesiastical  system  which  was 
thereafter  denominated  the  *  Saybrook  Platform.' 
This  standard  being  sanctioned  by  the  colonial 
legislature,  became  in  effect  the  established  form 
of  religion.  Most  of  the  churches  and  congre- 
gations voluntarily  adopted  it ;  none  however  were 


18  Tliis  town  is  connected  with  a  very  remarkab.e incident  in  Eng- 
lish History ;  it  is  the  place  to  which  Oliver  Cromwell  would  have 
emigrated,  when  yet  a  private  country  gentleman,  had  not  Charles 
1st  interfered  to  prevent  him.  I  quote  the  following  from  the 
Quarterly  Review. 

"  Lord  Brooke,  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  and  his  sons,  Pym,  and  other 
distinguished  men  of  the  same  sentiments,  were  about  to  remove  to 
a  settlement  in  New  England,  where  the  name  of  Saybrook,  in  hon- 
our of  the  two  noble  leaders,  had  already  been  given  to  a  township 
in  which  they  were  expected.  Eight  vessels  with  emigrants  on  board 
were  ready  to  sail  from  the  Thames,  when  the  King  by  an  order  of 
Council  forbade  their  departure,  and  compelled  the  intended  pas- 
sengers to  come  on  shore  ;  fatally  for  himself,  for  among  those  pas- 
sengers Haslerigge,  and  Hampden,  and  Cromwell,  with  all  his  fa- 
mily had  actually  embarked.  There  are  few  facts  in  History  wliich 
have  so  much  the  appearance  of  fatality  as  this."  Quarterly  Review, 
Vul.  XXV.  p.  228, 

8 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SYSTEM.  115 

compelled,  and  some  have  not  come  under  it  even 
to  this  day:  The  system  of  doctrine  was  substan- 
tially that  of  the  Savoy  Confession ;  but  churches 
were  allowed  to  come  in  either  under  that,  or  the 
Westminster  Confession,  or  the  doctrinal  articles 
of  the  Church  of  England. 

In  conformity  with  this  Platform  was  formed  the 
Consociation  /  which  is  an  assembly  of  ministers 
and  lay  delegates  from  churches  within  a  parti- 
cular geographical  extent,  usually  a  county  or  half 
county ;  it  is  composed  of  about  equal  numbers 
of  clergymen  and  laymen,  which  last  are  invariably 
church  members.  This  body  is  a  judicatory  for 
the  trial  of  all  ecclesiastical  questions,  and  its  de- 
cision is  final ;  paities  are  often  heard  by  counsel 
before  it,  as  in  a  civil  court. 

Superior  to  the  Consociation  are  the  Associations. 
These  consist  of  ministers  only,  and  are  of  two 
kinds.  The  general  State  Association,  which  meets 
annually,  is  the  supreme  church  court;  and  is  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  local  Associations,  for 
counties  and  half  counties,  which  meet  more  fre- 
quently. In  the  local  Associations  was  formerly 
invested,  by  law,  the  power  of  examining  and  licen- 
sing preachers,  and  regulating  every  thing  con- 
nected therewith ;  and  this  still  continues  in  prac- 
tice, though  no  longer  enjoined  by  statute.  It 
must  be  remarked  however  that  in  other  respects 
the  legislative  power  both  of  the  general  and  local 
Associations  is  only  that  of  advising ;  they  have  no 


116  LETTER  IV. — NEW  HAVEN. 

power  to  compel  obedience,  but  their  advice  is  al- 
most invariably  respected. 

The  General  Association  of  the  State  sends  de- 
legates to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  the  United  States,  which  meets  annually 
in  Philadelphia,  and  which  in  its  turn  sends  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Association.  These  delegates 
are  admitted  to  sit  by  mutual  courtesy,  for  the  As- 
sociation does  not  acknowledge  the  absolute  legis- 
lative authority  of  the  General  Assembly,  nor  does 
the  Assembly  regard  the  Association  as  having  by 
right  a  voice  in  its  councils.  The  General  As- 
sembly is  however  consulted  by  the  General  Asso- 
ciation and  its  advice  is  generally  respected. 

Besides  the  local  Associations,  Councils  exist, 
composed  of  ministers  and  lay  delegates,  which  are 
invited  by  churches  to  settle  their  ministers,  and  to 
assist  in  accommodating  any  differences  that  may 
occur  between  congregations  and  their  pastors ; 
preachers  who  have  been  previously  licensed  by 
the  local  Associations,  are  re-examined  by  a  Coun- 
cil before  ordination  over  any  particular  church. 

These  are  the  principal  features  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical system  of  the  State.  The  congregations 
are  individually  formed  on  the  independent  model ; 
having  no  ruling  elders,  nor  any  office-bearers 
but  the  Pastor  and  Deacons.  The  deacons  manage 
the  temporal  concerns  of  the  church,  and  visit  and 
relieve  the  poor.  When  a  member  offends,  his 
conduct  must  be  reported  to  the  whole  church  be- 


CHURCHES OBSERVANCE  OF  THE  SABBATH.    117 

fore  he  can  be  excluded  from  its  communion.  The 
pastors  of  the  congregational  churches  in  New 
Haven  have  salaries  of  from  1000  to  1200  Dollars; 
£225,  to  £270  sterling. 

There  are  in  the  New  England  States  not  under 
1000  churches  upon  the  congregational  model. 
This  includes  however  those  of  Unitarian  princi- 
ples, of  which  there  are  probably  about  50  in  all ; 
most  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  the  western  part 
of  Massachusetts,  a  few  in  Vermont  and  New 
Hampshire,  and  perhaps  in  Rhode  Island,  although 
in  this  last  State  the  Baptists  predominate. 

In  Connecticut  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath 
is  not  as  with  us,  from  midnight  to  midnight,  but 
according  to  the  ancient  Jewish  system,  from  sun- 
set to  sunset ; — that  is  they  commence  its  obser- 
vance at  sunset  on  Saturday,  and  continue  it  till 
sunset  on  Sunday.  In  conformity  with  this  prin- 
ciple, the  stores  are  shut  on  Saturday  evening  at 
twilight  and  business  is  suspended ;  the  churches 
are  not  opened  for  worship,  at  least  at  present,  but 
the  inhabitants  in  general  confine  themselves  to 
their  houses,  and  spend  the  evening  in  family  and 
private  devotion.  After  sunset  on  Sabbath  they 
consider  themselves  at  liberty  to  engage  in  secular 
matters,  but  the  stores  are  not  opened,  and  the 
evening  is  usually  spent  with  quietness  and  decorum. 

With  the  exercises  of  the  Saturday  evening  which 
this  system  requires,  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in 
harmonizing;  but  my  mind  could  not  so  easily  rid 


118  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN.    ' 

itself  of  former  sentiments  and  feelings  with  re- 
gard to  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath.  In  the  family 
with  whom  I  am  at  present  a  guest,  the  Sabbath 
exercises  were  concluded  immediately  after  tea,  by 
my  host's  reading  a  chapter  and  engaging  in  prayer. 
He  then  invited  me  to  accompany  him  to  visit  a 
worthy  Deacon's  family  in  the  neighbourhood ;  to 
which  I  without  hesitation  agreed,  willing  to  see 
and  know  all  that  I  could  of  their  Sabbath  occupa- 
tions. There  we  found  a  merry  groupe  of  young 
people,  and  it  was  not  without  considerable  sur- 
prise, that  I  heard  the  proposal  made  soon  after 
we  entered  that  one  of  the  young  ladies  should  sing 
*  Doun  the  burn  Davie.'  In  reply  to  this  sug- 
gestion I  told  them  that,  though  I  did  not  wish  to 
prescribe  to  them  the  manner  in  which  they  should 
spend  the  Sabbath  evening,  yet  I  could  not  so  sud- 
denly become  a  convert  to  their  system,  and  that 
therefore  if  they  intended  to  sing  songs,  I  should 
take  the  liberty  of  withdrawing.  They  argued 
against  what  were  considered  my  educational  preju- 
dices, but  agreed  to  sing  a  hymn  in  place  of  a  song, 
and  spend  the  rest  of  the  evening  in  conversation.13 
We  cannot,  perhaps,  incontrovertibly  prove  which 
system  of  reckoning  holy  time  prevailed  in  apostolic 
times  ;  but  it  is  certainly  more  likely  to  secure  the 

13  I  have  reason  to  suspect  that  in  proposing  the  song  on  the  occa- 
sion alluded  to,  the  good  people  only  meant  to  show  me  the  extent 
of  their  liberty  on  the  Sabbath  evening,  and  that  had  I  not  been  pre- 
sent it  would  not  have  been  thought  of.  A  New  Haven  gentle- 


OBSERVANCE  OF  THE  SABBATH SERMONS.    119 

sanctification  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  that  after  a 
night  of  stillness  and  repose,  one  entire  day  from 
morning  to  night  should  be  devoted  to  its  duties, 
than  that  it  should  be  made  up  of  a  fragment  of  one 
day,  and  three  quarters  of  the  next.  The  man  of 
business  cannot  dismiss  worldly  concerns  from  his 
mind  by  the  mere  locking  of  his  warehouse  door ; 
and,  however  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  what 
he  may  consider  his  duty,  he  cannot  be  so  well  dis- 
posed for  meditation,  as  when  he  rises  to  begin  a 
day  on  which  no  secular  employment  is  permitted  to 
intrude.  Even  here,  the  Episcopalians  and  the  Me- 
thodists dissent  from  the  prevailing  system,  and  the 
consequence  is  that  many  avail  themselves  of  this 
difference  of  opinion,  and  neither  observe  the  one 
evening  nor  the  other.  Throughout  this  State 
travelling  on  the  Sabbath  is  strictly  prohibited,  and 
the  prohibition  rigorously  enforced;  the  Mail  of 
the  United  States  is  the  only  privileged  conveyance, 
for  the  laws  of  the  Federal  government,  by  which 
it  is  appointed,  are  not  subject  to  the  control  of  the 
local  legislature ;  but  neither  on  foot,  on  horseback, 
nor  in  a  private  carriage,  is  it  possible  for  a  travel- 
ler to  escape  the  Argus  eyes  of  the  civil  officers. 

The  Sermons  which  I  have  heard  in  New  Haven, 
the  appearance  of  the  congregations,  and  other  cir- 

man,  who  had  an  opportunity  of  reading  the  manuscript  of  this  letter, 
wrote  with  a  pencil  opposite  to  this  portion  of  it — "  /  am  persuaded 
a  very  uncommon  occurrence — /  never  met  ivith  it.  Calls  are  made 
among  intimate  friends,  but  rarely  is  there  jollity  or  mirth." 


120  LETTER  IV. NEW  HAVEN. 

cum  stances,  give  me  reason  to  think  well  of  the 
state  of  religion  here. 

In  the  College  chapel  I  heard  a  judicious  dis- 
course on  the  evidence  which  is  sufficient  to  esta- 
blish the  truth  of  a  miracle.  The  Professor  suc- 
cessfully combated  the  doctrine  of  Hume  on  this 
subject,  and  proved  the  validity  of  the  testimony 
which  we  possess,  respecting  the  miracles  that  are 
recorded  in  Scripture.  In  one  of  the  congrega- 
tional churches,  I  heard  that  text  again  illustrated 
which  had  formed  the  subject  of  one  of  the  sermons 
that  I  heard  in  Boston,  Pilate's  question  "  What 
is  truth  ?"  On  this  occasion,  however,  the 
Preacher  treated  his  subject  in  the  first  place  as  a 
question  of  pure  metaphysics,  and  illustrated  it  in 
a  most  luminous  manner.  I  do  not  recollect  hav- 
ing heard  on  any  occasion  from  the  pulpit,  a  more 
masterly  exhibition  of  vigoi'ous  thinking  and  close 
reasoning,  or  language  more  accurate  and  appro- 
priate. It  was  not  however  a  mere  metaphysical 
lecture,  for  the  whole  train  of  argument  was  made 
subservient  to  the  illustration  of  the  great  gospel 
scheme  of  salvation.  The  preacher  demonstrated 
that  every  attempt  to  overthrow  the  economy  of 
salvation  through  Christ  Jesus,  was  in  fact  beating 
the  air,  and  righting  against  God.  Immediately 
before  the  sermon,  banns  of  marriage  were  pro- 
claimed with  a  loud  voice  from  the  desk ;  I  have 
not  hi  America  been  present  on  any  other  occasion 
when  this  was  done. 


SABBATH  SCHOOL ORGAN.  121 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  afternoon's  worship, 
I  saw  in  one  of  the   churches  a   Sabbath  School, 
consisting  of  the  young  persons  belonging  to  the 
congregation.     This  was  conducted  more  upon  the 
plan  of  the  Scotish  Sabbath  Schools  than  any  which 
I  have  hitherto  seen  here,   for  it  was  exclusively 
devoted  to  religious  instruction ;  it  was  obviously 
however  a  recent  attempt,  and  not  matured  in  the 
execution.     There  was   a  teacher  to  about  every 
dozen  of  children,  who  heard  them  repeat  what- 
ever passage  they  had  voluntarily  prepared ;  there 
was  no  system  of  regular  and  prescribed  exercise, 
in  which  they  could   all  join,  nor  did  I  hear  any 
attempt  made  at  illustration  by  parallel  passages. 
A  beginning  however  has  been  made,  and  a  little 
experience  will  soon  enable  them  to  improve  upon 
the  mode  of  conducting  them. 

In  one  of  the  congregational  churches  they  have 
recently  introduced  the  organ,  as  an  auxiliary  in 
Psalmody ;  but  a  special  stipulation  has  been  made 
by  the  more  aged  and  less  enthusiastic  in  harmonics, 
that  no  voluntary  is  ever  to  break  in  upon  the  solem- 
nity of  worship,  or  mar  its  intellectual  character ; 
the  instrument  is  allowed  to  lead  and*  harmonize 
the  voices  of  the  congregation,  but  to  do  no- 
thing more. 


VOL.  I. 


LETTER  V. 


L2 


LETTER  V. 

YAI.E    COLLEGE  HISTORY  GOVERNMENT  PROFESSORS 

REQUISITES  FOR  ADMISSION COURSE  OF  STUDY DEGREES 

'  COMMENCEMENT'  —  PRIZES  —  MEDICAL     DEPARTMENT  — 

COLLEGE    DISCIPLINE  HOURS     OF    STUDY  EXPENSE     OF 

EDUCATION LITERARY  SOCIETIES LIBRARY PHILOSOPHICAL 

APPARATUS  CABINET    OF    MINERALS  COMPARISON    OF 

AMERICAN  AND  SCOTISII  UNIVERSITY  EDUCATION. 

New  Haven,  August,  1818. 

THE  buildings  of  Yale  College  make  a  conspicuous 
appearance  when  entering  the  town  from  the  east- 
ward, and  the  effect  is  considerably  heightened  by 
three  churches,  which  stand  at  a  little  distance  in 
front  in  a  parallel  line.  The  ground  between 
the  College  and  the  churches  is  neatly  divided  and 
enclosed,  and  ornamented  with  trees. 

The  College  buildings  are  seven  in  number  ;l 
five  ranging  with  each  other  in  front,  and  two  be- 
hind. Three  of  those  in  front  are  plain  but  uni- 
form erections  of  brick,  four  stories  high,  contain- 
ing apartments  for  the  students.  A  chapel  with  a 
spire,  and  a  Lyceum  with  a  belfry,  occupy  the  in- 
tervals. 

1  An  eighth  was  erected  in  182] .      It  is  exactly  uniform  to  the  three 
larger  buildings,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  front  line,   with  space 
loft  vacant  for  a  new  Lyceum  or  some  corresponding  edifice. 
L3 


126        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

Yale  College  was  established  at  Saybrook  in  the 
year  1700,2  and  was  incorporated  by  the  colonial 
legislature  in  1701.  In  1718  it  was  removed  to 
New  Haven.  It  was  originally  intended  only  for 
the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,  but 
as  it  gathered  strength,  from  individual  liberality 
and  public  patronage,  the  range  of  its  studies  was 
gradually  extended,  until  it  now  embraces  the 
more  essential  parts  of  a  complete  literary,  scien- 
tific, and  medical  education. 

The  College  received  its  name  in  commemoration 
of  the  bounty  of  the  Hon.  Elihu  Yale,  a  son  of  one 
of  the  early  settlers ;  who  went  to  England  in  early 
life,  thence  to  India,  where  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  Governor  of  Madras,  and  afterwards  on 
returning  to  England  was  elected  Governor  of  the 
East  India  Company.  From  him  the  infant  insti- 
tution received  donations  at  various  times  to  the 
amount  of  £500  sterling,  and  a  short  time  before 
his  death  he  directed  another  benefaction  to  the 
same  amount  to  be  transmitted,  but  which  unfor- 
tunately was  never  received. 

Among  its  early  benefactors  was  the  celebrated 
Dean  Berkely,  who,  having  been  frustrated  in  his 
efforts. to  establish  a  College  in  the  island  of  Ber- 
muda, presented  to  this  institution  a  farm  which 

*  President  Dwight's  Travels  contain,  in  Letters  16th  and  17th, 
a  pretty  copious  account  of  Yale  College.  The  reader  has  here  less 
liistorical  detail  but  a  much  more  circumstantial  view  of  discipline 
and  study,  the  whole  of  which  I  have  derived  from  official  sources. 


HISTORY  AND  ENDOWMENT.  127 

he  had  purchased  in  Rhode  Island,  and  afterwards 
transmitted  to  it  from  England  a  very  valuable 
collection  of  books.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  and  many 
other  distinguished  men  presented  their  works  to 
the  library. 

Although  founded  under  the  sanction  of  the 
legislature,  and  partially  endowed  by  it,  the  College 
was  for  a  long  time  more  indebted  to  individual 
than  to  state  patronage ;  for  the  first  ninety  years 
of  its  existence,  the  whole  amount  bestowed  by 
the  local  legislature,  did  not  much  exceed  £4500 
sterling3.  When  the  Federal  government  however 
was  consolidated,  the  debts  of  the  individual  States 
were  assumed  by  Congress,  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  uncollected  arrears  of  war  taxes  due  to 
the  State,  was  left  at  its  disposal.  In  1792  part 
of  these  debts  was  granted  to  Yale  College,  and 
in  1796  the  grant,  after  a  severe  struggle  to  oppose 
it,  was  enlarged.  By  the  very  judicious  manage- 
ment of  those  who  collected  the  arrears,  about 
60,000  dollars  were  realized  from  them;  £13,500 
sterling  which  imparted  to  the  College  a  degree 
of  vigour  which  it  had  not  hitherto  known,  and 
to  this  day  nearly  the  whole  of  its  funded  income 
arises  from  this  source. 

The  affairs  of  Yale  College  are  under  the  super- 
intendence of  a  board  of  Trustees,  consisting  of 
the  Governor  and  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the 

3  Vide  North  American  Review,  No.  XXXIX.  p.  386. 


128        LETTER  V.— YALE  COLLEGE. 

State,  six  of  the  Counsellors,4  and  eleven  Clergy- 
men. The  Faculty  consists  of  a  President,  nine 
Professors,  four  Medical  Examiners,  and  six 
Tutors.5  The  academical  studies  extend  to  Litera- 
ture, experimental  and  moral  philosophy  and  the- 
ology ;  the  medical  department  embraces  a  course 
of  medical  and  surgical  instruction,  complete  in 
all  its  parts. 

4  A  new  constitution  has  been  adopted  in  Connecticut  since  the 
date  of  this  letter,  under  which  the  Counsellors  have  now  the  title  of 
Senators. 

5  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Faculty  in  November  1820. 

JEREMIAH  DAY,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President. 

Dr.  JEneas  Monson,  Professor  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine. 

Dr.  Nathan  Smith,  Professor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  Physic 
and  S.urgery. 

Benjamin  Silliman,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Pharmacy,  Mineralogy 
and  Geology. 

James  L.    Kingsley,  Professor  of  the   Hebrew,   Greek  and   Latin 
Languages. 

Dr.  Eh'  Ives,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Botany,  and  Lec- 
turer on  the  diseases  of  Children. 

Dr.  Jonathan  Knight,  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  and 
Lecturer  on  Obstetrics. 

Rev.  Eleazar  T.  Fitch,  Professor  of  Divinity. 

Rev.  Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory. 

Alexander  M.  Fisher,  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philo- 
sophy. 

Dr.    Mason  F.    Cogswell,    Dr.    Thomas   Hubbard,    Dr.    Thomas 
Miner,  Dr.  Warren  Fowler,  Medical  Examiners. 

Horace  Hooker,   Rufus  Woodward,   William  C.    Fowler,    Edward 

Bull,  Lyman  Coleman,   Tutors. 
[Since   the  preceding   lines  were   written,  Professor    Fisher   has 

found  an  untimely  grave.     He  was  one  of  about  fifty  persons  who 

perished  in  the  wreck  of  the   Albion  of  New   York,  in  the  bay  of 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  STUDENTS.  129 

At  Yale  College  the  undergraduates  during  the 
course  of  four  years  are  termed,  as  at  Harvard 
and  the  other  American  Colleges,  successively 
Freshmen,  Sophomores,  Junior,  and  Senior,  So- 
phisters.  It  is  customary  for  those  graduates  who 
wish  to  prosecute  their  studies  more  fully,  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  lectures  for  several  additional 
years ;  while  they  do  so  they  are  subject,  in  common 

Kinsale,  Ireland,  on  the  morning  of  the  22d  April  1822.  "  The 
extinction,"  as  a  biographer  has  said,  "  of  genius,  of  virtue,  and  of 
bright  hopes  !" 

Mr.  Fisher  was  born  at  Franklin,  Massachusetts,  in  1794*.  Ill 
1809  at  the  age  of  15  he  entered  Yale  College,  where  in  1813  he  re- 
ceived a  Bachelor's  degree  and  finished  the  course  with  the  highest 
reputation.  After  spending  some  time  at  the  Theological  Academy 
at  Andover,  he  returned  to  Yale  College  in  1815,  in  consequence  of 
being  appointed  Tutor;  in  1817  he  was  nominated  Adjunct  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  and  in  1819  sole  Pro- 
fessor of  the  same  branches.  The  vigour  of  Ids  mind,  the  extent  of 
his  acquirements,  and  his  unwearied  industry,  enabled  liim  to  dis- 
charge his  professional  duties  with  a  success,  which  excited  the  most 
lively  satisfaction  in  his  brother  Professors ;  which  bade  fair  to  raise 
the  reputation  of  the  College,  as  a  school  for  the  exact  sciences,  to 
"a  higher  rank  than  any  American  seminary  has  yet  attained,  and 
which  would  doubtless  have  drawn  forth  the  homage  of  admiration 
from  the  older  institutions  of  Europe. 

To  me  as  an  individual  the  destruction  of  the  Albion,  and  the  death 
of  Professor  Fisher,  were  both  events  of  most  painful  interest  The 
Albion  was  the  vessel  in  which  I  returned  to  my  native  country  ;  she 
was  then  newly  launched,  and  Captain  Williams  who  was  lost  in 
her,  had  been  promoted  from  an  older  of  the  packet  vessels  to  her 
command.  We  embarked  on  the  tenth  of  March,  and  by  noon  on 
the  tliirtieth  we  were  walking  the  streets  of  Liverpool.  With  Mr. 
Fisher  I  had  become  acquainted  at  New  Haven,  and  had  been  parti- 
cularly gratified  by  his  society  and  conversation.  Calling  at  his 


130        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

with  the  others,  to  the  more  essential  rules  of  Col- 
lege discipline. 

For  admission  to  the  Freshman  class,  it  is  re- 
quisite that  the  candidate  should  have  completed 
his  fourteenth  year,  and  he  must  undergo  examina- 
tion upon  Adam's  Latin  Grammar,  Clarke's  Intro- 
apartments  in  the  college,  one  morning  after  breakfast,  I  found  him 
with  a  duodecimo  bible  upon  the  table  before  him ;  he  had  shut  it  as 
I  entered,  and  its  leaves  betokened  that  it  was  the  subject  of  frequent 
study.  He  enquired  particularly  about  the  state  of  religion  in  Glas- 
gow, about  our  benevolent  institutions,  our  Bible,  and  Missionary  So- 
cieties; about  our  clergymen,  the  support  which  they  gave  to  such  insti- 
tutions, the  style  of  their  preaching,  and  their  theological  reputation. 
He  conducted  me  through  several  of  the  apartments  of  the  college  ; 
the  library,  the  cabinet  of  minerals,  and  the  room  containing  the 
philosophical  apparatus.  Long  will  I  cherish  the  remembrance  of 
that  interview  and  conversation.  Early  in  1822  I  was  apprized  of 
his  intention  of  visiting  this  country,  and  informed  that  he  would 
probably  be  in  Glasgow  about  the  month  of  May.  I  hoped  to  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  for  a  time  the  inmate  of  my  own  fa- 
mily, and  fondly  anticipated  the  intellectual  feast  which  his  conver- 
sation would  afford.  But  alas  !  ere  May  arrived,  the  Albion  was  a 
wreck,  and  poor  Fisher  a  corpse  engulphed  in  the  ocean !  "  What- 
soever God  doeth,  it  shall  be  for  ever :  nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor 
any  thing  taken  from  it ;  and  God  doeth  it  that  men  should  fear  be- 
fore him." 

Some  of  the  fruits  of  Mr.  Fisher's  early  talents  have  been  preserved 
in  periodical  Journals.  He  contributed  under  the  signature  of  '  Nov. 
Anglus'  Solutions  of  various  questions  in  the  5th  volume  of  the  '  Ma- 
thematical Repository,  edited  by  Thomas  Leybourn,  of  the  Royal 
Military  Academy.'  He  is  author  under  the  signature  of  '  X'  of  va- 
rious Solutions  of  mathematical  questions  in  the  American  Monthly 
Magazine,  begun  at  New  York  in  1817 ;  one  of  these  is  said  to  be 
particularly  deserving  of  notice,  On  the  most  advantageous  position  of 
the  sail  of  a  wind  mill,  when  the  ratio  of  the  velocities  of  the  sail  and 
wind  is  given.  In  the  4th  Volume  of  the  '  Memoirs  of  the  Ameri- 


TERMS  OF  ADMISSION.  131 

duction  to  the  making  of  Latin,  Goodrich's  Greek 
Grammar,  and  Prosody,  Cicero's  Select  Orations, 
Virgil,  Sallust,  DalzePs  Analecta  Grseca  Minora, 
and  the  Greek  Testament.  Applicants  for  the 
more  advanced  classes  must  have  a  corresponding 
increase  of  age,  and  undergo  examination  upon 

can  Academy  of  arts  and  sciences,"  are  published  his  Observations  on 
the  Comet  of  1819,  cmd  calculation  of  its  orbit;  this  paper  was  the 
result  of  the  first  actual  observations  on  a  heavenly  body  that  he  had 
ever  made.  To  Professor  Silliman's  'Journal  of  Science,'  he  fur- 
nished the  following  papers : — In  Vol.  I.  Essay  on  Musical  Tem- 
jKrament,  written  when  he  was  about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and 
which  called  forth  from  Mr.  John  Farey,  Senior,  London,  in  an  essay 
on  Musical  Intervals,  in  Vol.  2d  of  the  same  journal,  the  following 
observation ;  "  I  have  before  met  with  nothing  like  it,  in  point  of 
utility,  in  an  attentive  perusal  of  nearly  every  thing  which  has  been 
printed  in  the  English  language  on  the  subject" — In  Vol.  III.  Re- 
marks on  Dr.  Enfold' s  Institutes  of  Natural  Philosophy;  a  paper  exhi- 
biting his  extensive  and  familiar  acquaintance  with  mathematical  and 
philosophical  writers.  On  some  recent  improvements  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Printing  Press,  with  a  mathematical  investigation  of  its 
theory  and  powers.  In  Vol.  V.  On  Maxima  and  Minima  of  Func- 
tions of  tivo  variable  quantities ;  written  in  part  soon  after  he  gra- 
duated. 

His  brother  Professor  Mr.  Kingsley,  in  a  biographical  sketch, 
which  has  furnished  me  with  some  of  the  above  particulars,  says  that 
Mr.  Fisher's  visit  to  Europe  was  undertaken  "  not  so  much  for  the 
sake  of  making  new  acquisitions  in  science — for  the  knowledge  of 
European  philosophers  is  found  in  their  books — as  to  visit  the  places 
of  public  instruction,  and  examine  by  actual  inspection  the  mode  of 
communicating  knowledge  in  the  foreign  universities;  to  form  an 
acquaintance  with  men  who  were  distinguished  in  his  own  depart- 
ment, and  to  obtain  such  information  as  might  enable  him  more  fully 
to  aid,  in  raising  the  scientific  character  of  his,  country,  and  in  pro- 
moting the  usefulness  and  prosperity  of  this  college."  Professor 
Silliman  in  his  Obituary  adds — "  Mr.  Fisher  was  the  most  extraor- 


132  LETTER  v. — VALE  COLLEGE. 

all  the  previous  customary  course  of  study.  Each 
individual,  on  entering,  is  required  to  produce  cer- 
tificates of  good  moral  character,  and  to  subscribe 
a  solemn  engagement  to  be  obedient  in  every  re- 
spect to  the  laws  of  the  College.  The  total  num- 
ber of  Academical  students  and  resident  graduates 
is  at  present  283.6 

The    three    younger    classes   are  each    divided 

dinary  man  of  his  years  whom  I  have  ever  known. — To  his  wonderful 
scientific  attainments,  he  added  the  finish  of  classical  and  polite  litera- 
ture, derived  from  the  best  ancient  as  well  as  modern  sources ;  his 
elegant  taste  embraced  the  fine  arts  in  their  extent  and  variety,  and  he 
was  satisfied  with  nothing,  even  in  the  decorum  and  accommodations 
of  private  life,  which  was  not  adapted  to  the  same  elevated  standard." 
His  Parents  still  survive  at  the  place  of  liis  nativity.  One  also  lives 
with  whom,  had  he  been  spared  to  return,  he  was  soon  to  have 
entered  upon  the  most  endearing  of  earthly  relations ! 

"  There  is  a  tear  for  all  that  die, 
A  mourner  o'er  the  humblest  grave—" 

But  how  wide  is  the  circle  of  mourners,  when  they  are  laid  low, 
who  were  opening  on  a  career  of  early  and  extensive  usefulness,  who 
seemed  singularly  marked  out  and  qualified  to  enlarge  the  boun- 
daries of  science,  and  to  exalt  the  intellectual  character  of  a  rapidly 
rising  nation ! 

The  Mathematical  chair  is  now  filled  by  the  Rev.  Matthew  R. 
Button.] 

6  At  the  date  of  this  letter,  Yale  College  was  in  number  of  stu- 
dents somewhat  under  Harvard ;  since  that  period  however,  it  has 
got  above  the  other  by  about  twenty  or  thirty.      In  November  1820 
its  catalogue  exhibited  the  following  summary  I—- 
Resident graduates,  31 
Academical  students,         319 
Medical  students,  (52 

Total,  412 


COURSE  OF  STUDY.  133 

into  two  parts,  to  each  of  which  a  Tutor  is  ap- 
pointed, who  assists  the  Professors  in  instruct- 
ing and  examining  the  students ;  the  students  of 
the  fourth  year,  are  under  the  more  immediate 
superintendence  of  the  President  and  Profes- 
sors. The  three  younger  classes  attend  three 
public  recitations  or  lectures  a  day,  excepting 
on  Wednesday  and  Saturday,  when  they  have 
only  two.  The  senior  class  recites  once  a  day 
to  the  President.  At  every  lecture  the  students 
are  minutely  examined  on  the  subject  of  the  pre- 
ceding one. 

The  annual  '  Commencement'  is  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  September,  and  there  are  in  the 
year  three  terms,  at  the  close  of  each  of  which 
is  a  short  vacation. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  Academical 
course : 

FRESHMEX.  First  Term — Livy  begun,  Adam's 
Roman  Antiquities,  Webber's  Arithmetic,  Mur- 
ray's English  Grammar.  Second  Term — Livy's 
first  five  books  finished,  Analecta  Graeca  Majora, 
the  historical  parts,  Day's  Algebra.  Third  Term — 
Analecta  Grasca  Majora  continued,  Morse's  Geo- 
graphy, vol.  1st,  Irving  on  Composition,  Murray's 
Grammar  reviewed. 

In  addition  to  these  recitations,  the  Freshmen 
attend  the  lectures  of  the  Professor  of  Languages, 
and  the  private  exercises  and  lectures  of  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory.  They  present 

VOL.   I.  M 


134        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

in  writing,  English  translations  from  Latin  authors, 
and  specimens  of  Latin  composition. 

SOPHOMORES.  First  Term — Morse's  Geogra- 
phy, vol.  2d,  Playfair's  Euclid  begun,  Horace  be- 
gun. Second  Term — Playfair's  Euclid  finished, 
Horace  finished,  Day's  Mathematics,  parts  2d,  and 
3d,  Cicero  de  Omciis  begun.  Third  Term~- Ho- 
mer's Iliad,  Day's  Mathematics,  part  4th,  Conic 
Sections  and  Spherical  Geometry,  Blair's  Lectures, 
vol.  1st,  Cicero  de  Omciis,  de  Senectute,  et  de 
Amicitia  finished. 

The  Sophomores  continue  to  attend  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Languages,  and  the  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
and  Oratory.  They  exhibit  specimens  of  English 
and  Latin  Composition,  and  engage  in  forensic  dis- 
putations in  presence  of  their  instructors.  In  con- 
nexion with  the  branches  of  Mathematics,  which 
are  specified,  they  study  Mensuration,  Surveying, 
and  Navigation. 

JUNIOR  SOPHISTERS.  First  Term — Spherical 
Trigonometry,  Analecta  Greeca  Majora  continued, 
Enfield's  Philosophy  begun,  Cicero  de  Oratore  be- 
gun. Second  Term — Analecta  Grceca  Majora,  vol. 
1st  finished,  Enfield's  Philosophy  continued,  Ci- 
cero de  Oratore  continued,  Tacitus,  omitting  the 
Annals:  Third  Term — Enfield's  Astronomy,  Tyt- 
ler's  General  History,  Vince's  Fluxions,  Greek,  or 
Hebrew,  at  the  option  of  the  Student. 

The  Professor  of  Languages,  and  the  Professor 
of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  continue  their  lectures. 


COURSE  OF  STUDY.  135 

The  students  exhibit  specimens  of  English  Com- 
position. Forensic  disputations  are  continued 
twice  a  week  before  the  instructors.  ^They  attend 
a  course  of  lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy,  Che- 
mistry, and  Mathematics. 

SENIOR  SOPHISTERS.  First  Term — Blair's  Lec- 
tures, vol.  2d,  Hedge's  Logic,  Locke's  Essays, 
Paley's  Natural  Theology.  Second  Term — Paley's 
Natural  Theology,  Paley's  Evidences  of  Christi- 
anity, Stewart's  Philosophy  of  the  Mind.  Third 
Term — Paley's  Moral  Philosophy. 

The  Professor  of  Languages,  and  the  Professor 
of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  conclude  their  lectures. 
The  students  continue  forensic  disputations,  and 
attend  the  lectures  on  Chemistry,  Mineralogy, 
Geology,  Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy,  Lo- 
gic, Metaphysics,  Ethics,  and  Theology. 

The  Professor  of  Divinity  delivers  a  lecture  on 
Theology  in  the  College  chapel,  each  Sabbath  in 
term  time,  completing  a  course  in  four  years ;  he 
also  occasionally  discourses  privately  to  the  senior 
class.7 

The  English  authors  which  have  been  mentioned, 
are  studied  chiefly  as  appropriate  text  books  upon 

T  A  theological  school  has  recently  been  founded,  which  is  in  con- 
nexion with  the  College,  and  will  probably  be  hereafter  incorporated 
with  it.  The  Rev.  Nathaniel  W.  Taylor  lias  been  appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  Didactic  Theology,  and  the  students  receive  instructions 
from  the  academical  Professors  in  the  Languages,  Rhetoric,  and  Bib- 
lical Criticism.  A  school  of  Law  is  projected,  and  will  probably 
be  soon  brought  into  operation. 

M2 


136        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

which  the  Professor  discourses;  and  their  opinions 
are  of  course  either  enforced  or  controverted,  as 
they  may  o^  may  not  agree  with  those  of  the  lec- 
turer. In  either  case  they  afford  a  groundwork  for 
appropriate  discussion  and  illustration ;  they  may 
also  advantageously  direct  the  young  enquirer  in  his 
private  researches,  and  afford  him  the  means  of 
trying  the  vigour  of  his  own  mind.  In  the  hands 
of  an  unskilful  lecturer,  a  good  text  book  is  cer- 
tainly an  important  advantage ;  but  to  one  of  more 
shining  talents,  a  faulty  manual  will  occasion  com- 
paratively little  inconvenience. 

From  the  preceding  sketch  it  will  be  apparent 
that  the  attention  of  the  student  is  at  no  period  of 
the  course  concentrated  upon  any  particular  branch 
of  science  or  literature,  to  the  comparative  exclu- 
sion of  all  the  rest.  For  this  reason  it  is  not 
likely  that  Yale  will  produce  many  *  wranglers'  in 
mathematics,  to  surpass  those  of  Cambridge,  or 
giants  in  Greek  Literature,  to  wrest  the  palm 
from  those  of  Oxford;  but  it  is  very  probable 
that  it  will  send  forth  a  greater  proportion  of 
men  whose  minds  are  steadily  trained  to  order 
and  activity,  and  stored  with  those  elements  of 
knowledge  which  are  available  in  almost  every 
situation,  and  which  may  be  said  to  ensure  to 
their  possessor,  a  reasonable  degree  of  success 
in  any  train  of  thinking  or  research  to  which,  by 
his  inclination,  or  the  exigencies  of  his  future  life, 
he  may  be  led.  It  is  a  remark  of  Cicero's,  that 


REMARKS — EXAMINATIONS.  137 

no  teacher  can  communicate  to  his  pupil  the  com- 
pletely detailed  application  of  his  peculiar  art,  but 
after  the  learner  has  thoroughly  mastered  its  ge- 
neral principles,  he  may  be  safely  left  to  prosecute 
by  himself  the  farther  investigation.  The  accu- 
racy of  this  principle  has  been  no  where  more 
successfully  illustrated,  than  in  the  history  of  Scot- 
land. Dr.  Johnson,  whose  habits  and  predilections 
wei-e  entirely  in  favour  of  the  English  system  of 
University  education,  compared  learning  in  Scot- 
land to  "  bread  in  a  besieged  town,  where  every 
one  gets  a  mouthful,  but  nobody  a  bellyful ;"  but 
every  candid  observer  knows,  that  this  universal 
diffusion  of  moderate  education  has  given  a  pe- 
culiar superiority  to  the  Scotish  national  character ; 
— that  much  more  good  in  the  aggregate  has  re- 
sulted from  it  than  from  the  other  system,  while 
moreover,  there  is  scarcely  a  department  of  litera- 
ture or  philosophy,  in  which  Scotland  has  not  pro- 
duced more  than  her  numerical  proportion  of  em- 
inently great  men. 

In  Yale  College  the  advantages  of  the  English 
and  the  Scotish  systems  of  University  education 
seem  to  be  in  a  great  measure  combined.  The 
scope  for  original  discussion  and  elegance  of  illus- 
tration which  lecturing  affords,  is  connected  with 
the  more  laborious  and  effective  discipline  of  tu- 
tors and  examination ;  the  students  are  not  con- 
sidered as  passive  recipients  of  knowledge,  but 
are  stimulated  to  the  active  exercise  of  their  own 
M3  » 


138        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

powers,  that  they  may  acquire  that  command  of 
them  which  practice  alone  can  give,  and  which  can 
become  habitual  only  by  a  continued  succession  of 
efforts.  Nor  are  the  benefits  of  public  examina- 
tion unattended  to;  for  the  whole  of  the  classes 
are  subjected  to  a  rigorous  scrutiny,  twice  in  each 
year.  Each  of  these  examinations  occupies  from 
four  to  six  days,  and  those  students  who  are  found 
particularly  deficient  in  the  exercises  of  the  class, 
are  liable  at  the  discretion  of  the  Faculty  to  ad- 
monition or  dismission.  After  the  last  exam- 
ination of  the  fourth  year,  the  faculty  decide  by 
a  vote  upon  each  student  whether  he  shall  re- 
ceive a  degree  or  not;  but  the  previous  probation- 
ary course  and  frequent  examinations,  together  with 
the  rigorous  system  of  discipline  which  I  have  yet 
to  detail,  send  away  most  of  the  laggard  and  de- 
fective members,  and  of  those  who  are  allowed  to 
pass  few  are  of  a  doubtful  kind.  Sympathy, 
however,  for  poverty  or  misfortune,  and  respect 
for  moral  worth,  are  in  some  cases  I  believe  al- 
lowed to  operate  favourably  on  behalf  of  individ- 
uals, whose  claims  in  an  academical  point  of  view 
could  scarcely  be  sustained. 

The  stimulating  system  of  prizes  is  partially  in 
use.  Bishop  Berkely  established  a  prize  fund, 
which  yields  annually  150  dollars;  this  is  given  in 
premiums  of  50  dollars  each,  £11,  5s.  sterling,  to 
the  students  in  different  classes,  who  pass  the  best 
examination  in  Latin  and  Greek.  A  few  others  of 


'  COMMENCEMENT.'  139 

inferior  amount  are  given  for  specimens  of  Latin 
and  English  composition,  and  for  public  declama- 
tion. These  premiums  are  bestowed  privately. 

The  annual  '  Commencement',  as  it  is  termed, 
is  a  kind  of  festival  in  New  Haven,  to  which  liter- 
ary men  assemble  from  a  considerable  distance 
around.  Of  the  students  who  have  completed 
their  fourth  year,  a  few  are  selected  to  deliver 
public  orations  on  literary,  philosophical,  or  poli- 
tical subjects;  after  which  the  customary  degrees 
in  Arts,  and  in  Medicine,  are  conferred  upon  those 
who  have  passed  the  requisite  examinations,  and 
honorary  degrees  on  those  whom  the  College  has 
selected  as  worthy  of  them,  for  eminence  in  letters, 
law,  medicine,  or  theology. 

I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing 
this  ceremonial  at  Yale  College,  but  I  have  been 
present  at  that  of  Columbia  College,8  in  New 
York,  and  I  understand  that  they  are  very  similar 
in  their  general  features. 

On  this  occasion  the  Trustees  and  Professors, 
preceded  by  a  band  of  music,  and  followed  by  the 
students,  walked  in  procession  from  the  College 
buildings  to  one  of  the  churches.  The  students 
wore  black  silk  gowns,  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
occasion,  and  a  medal  at  the  breast,  the  badge  of 
two  Literary  Societies,  with  one  or  other  of  which 

s  In  the  month  following  the  date  of  this  letter ; — the  reader  will 
pardon  the  anachronism. 


LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

all  of  them  are  connected.  At  the  upper  end  of 
a  temporary  platform,  near  the  pulpit,  were  seated 
the  President  and  other  members  of  the  Faculty; 
and  at  the  lower  end,  the  orators  of  the  day  de- 
claimed in  succession.  The  band  was  posted  in 
the  gallery,  and  played  during  the  intervals. 

The  opening  address,  or  '  Salutatory'  as  it  is 
termed,  and  the  concluding  one,  or  '  Valedictory,' 
are  generally  assigned  to  the  two  scholars  who 
rank  highest  in  the  scale  of  merit ;  the  priority  of 
the  rest  is  regulated  on  the  same  principle.  The 
addresses  which  I  heard  embraced  a  variety  of 
topics,  a  large  proportion  of  which  were  political ; 
and  frequent  allusions  were  made  to  Great  Britain 
and  to  the  recent  unhappy  hostilities.  The  com- 
position and  delivery  were  upon  the  whole  respec- 
table, in  some  instances  highly  creditable  to  the 
talent  of  the  orators ;  and  if  some  of  them  claimed, 
on  behalf  of  their  native  land,  a  pre-eminence  in 
arts  and  arms  which  we  might  hardly  be  disposed 
as  yet  to  concede,  they  would  be  rigid  censors  in- 
deed, who  would  criticise  very  severely  the  effu- 
sions of  youthful  ardour  on  so  spirit-stirring  a 
theme,  or  frown  at  their  enthusiastic  exclamation — 

"  'Tis  the  star-spangled  banner  !   O  long  may  it  wave, 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 

Some  of  the  best  of  the  addresses  however  paid 
honourable  tribute  to  the  British  national  charac- 
ter, quoted  our  poets,  eulogized  our  '  atriots,  our 


MEDICAL   DEPARTMENT.  141 

statesmen,  and  some  of  our  kings;  and  mani- 
fested, on  the  part  of  their  authors,  a  liberality  and 
manliness  of  sentiment  -which  would  have  done  no 
discredit  to  maturer  years. 

After  the  '  valedictory'  address,  the  candidates  for 
the  Baccalaureate  came  individually  forward.  The 
President,  a  venerable  old  man,  grasping  the  stu- 
dent's hands  in  his,  congratulated  him  in  Latin 
on  the  termination  of  his  College  studies,  put  into 
his  hand  a  small  red  volume  with  a  few  words  of 
parting  counsel  and  direction,  withdrew  the  book, 
and  presented  him  with  his  parchment  diploma 
bound  with  a  blue  riband. 

In  Yale  College,  the  topics  upon  which  the  stu- 
dents declaim  at  Commencement  are  selected  by 
themselves,  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric;  and  the  essays  when  composed 
are  submitted  for  his  revisal,  before  being  prepared 
for  delivery. 

The  Medical  school  which  is  in  connexion  with 
Yale  College  is  of  recent  institution,  but  already 
bears  an  honourable  reputation,  as  regards  the 
course  of  study  and  the  ability  of  the  Professors. 
The  lectures  commence  in  the  last  week  of  Octo- 
ber, and  terminate  in  the  last  week  of  March. 
During  the  course  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  lec- 
tures are  delivered  by  each  Professor,  on  the  vari- 
ous subjects  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  Medi- 
cine, Surge'y,  Obstetrics,  Chemistry,  Pharmacy, 
Materia  Medjca,  and  Botany.  The  students  have 


142        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

also  admission  to  the  academical  lectures  on  Na- 
tural Philosophy,  Mineralogy  and  Geology.  The 
various  branches  are  investigated  in  the  most  scien- 
tific manner,  and  the  courses  are  fully  illustrated 
by  demonstration  and  experiment.  The  institu- 
tion possesses  an  appropriate  anatomical  museum 
and  library,  and  the  students  have  also  access  to 
the  library  of  the  college.  A  botanic  garden  has 
been  begun. 

Candidates  for  license  and  a  degree  are  regularly 
examined  by  the  Professors,  and  a  board  of  Physi- 
cians appointed  by  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State. 
These  have  full  authority  to  grant  license  to  prac- 
tise, and  their  recommendation  secures  a  degree 
from  the  corporation  of  the  College. 

By  far  the  most  difficult  part  in  the  economy  of  a 
College  is  its  discipline ;  particularly  in  such  institu- 
tions as  Yale,  where  the  most  of  young  men  are  with- 
drawn entirely  from  the  superintendence  of  their 
friends,  and  collected  together  into  one  large  family. 
The  regulations  however  which  are  adopted  here, 
seem  better  adapted  to  exercise  a  parental  influence 
over  the  inmates,  than  any  which  have  come  under 
my  observation. 

Each  Student  on  joining  the  college  is  placed,  at 
the  discretion  of  his  parents  or  the  Faculty,  under 
the  particular  superintendence  of  one  of  the  Pro- 
fessors or  Tutors,  whom  he  is  enjoined  to  regard  as 
his  counsellor,  and  who  considers  himself  bound 
to  have  a  watchful  eye  over  the  behaviour  and  irn- 


COLLEGE  DISCIPLINE.  143 

provement  of  his  ward ;  in  a  word  to  make  up,  so 
far  as  that  is  possible,  the  want  of  a  father's  care. 
The  young  men  are  considered  as  in  a  state  of 
probation  till  they  are  matriculated,  which  never 
takes  place  till  they  have  resided  in  College  at 
least  six  months.  Those  whose  conduct  has  been 
exemplary  during  this  period,  are  then  fully  en- 
tered as  members  of  the  institution ;  but  those  who 
so  pass,  seldom  exceed  two-thirds  of  the  class. 
Those  who  have  not  obtained  matriculation  and 
who  show  decided  symptoms  of  insubordination, 
are  dismissed  without  ceremony,  and  without  any 
reason  being  assigned ;  sometimes  a  considerable 
number  are  thus  sent  away.  The  rest  remain  for 
farther  trial,  and  are  matriculated  at  various  periods 
as  their  behaviour  entitles  them  to  it ;  in  some  in- 
stances it  is  deferred  so  long  as  for  three  years. 
In  this  way  the  disorderly  are  gradually  weeded 
out,  and  only  the  more  diligent  and  exemplary 
allowed  to  remain. 

When  a  student  after  matriculation  is  guilty 
of  a  serious  infraction  of  the  College  laws,  the 
member  of  Faculty  under  whose  particular  charge 
he  is,  sends  for  him  to  his  apartments,  and  pri- 
vately gives  him  what  is  technically  called  his 
'  first  admonition.'  Should  he  again  offend,  he 
receives  his  '  second  admonition,'  and  his  friends 
are  informed  by  letter  of  his  misconduct.  This 
frequently  leads  to  his  removal  from  the  College, 
which  is  generally  so  managed  as  to  conceal  from 


144        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

his  fellow  students  the  real  cause  of  his  leaving 
them.  Should  his  friends  not  remove  him,  and 
should  he  again  deserve  censure,  instant  and  dis- 
graceful dismission  is  the  inevitable  consequence. 
For  very  flagrant  immorality,  or  breach  of  dis- 
cipline, the  punishment  is  expulsion ;  which  differs 
from  dismission  in  this  respect,  that  the  sentence  is 
read  by  the  senior  Professor  before  the  whole 
members  of  the  College,  and  the  culprit  is  rend- 
ered incapable  of  admission  to  any  other  in  the 
whole  country.  These  various  gradations  of  pun- 
ishment have  a  powerful  effect  in  preserving  good 
order,  and  all  are  aware  that  none  but  those  whose 
conduct  is  upon  the  whole  meritorious,  will  be 
allowed  to  complete  the  course  and  obtain  academic 
honours. 

Till  very  lately  the  students  of  the  Senior  class 
exercised,  by  ancient  usage,  the  discretionary  power 
of  summoning  before  them  individuals  of  the 
Freshman  class,  to  reprimand  them  for  indiscre- 
tions. The  intoxication  of  power,  however,  has  led 
older  and  wiser  men  astray ;  and  as  it  was  found 
that  the  exercise  of  this  prerogative  caused  more 
mischief  than  it  cured,  it  lias  been  altogether 
abolished. 

It  has  sometimes  happened  in  the  American 
Colleges,  that  a  few  evil  disposed  individuals  have 
organized  secret  and  systematic  conspiracies ;  which 
have  resulted  in  taking  possession  of  the  College 
buildings,  and  for  a  time  overturning  all  order  and 


INTERNAL  ARRANGEMENTS.  145 

authority.  To  prevent  so  far  as  possible  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  an  occurrence,  the  buildings  are 
so  constructed  that  only  a  small  number  of  sleep- 
ing apartments  have  communication  with  each 
other ;  to  each  division,  students  of  various  ages 
and  dispositions  are  allotted,  and  in  most  of  them 
one  of  the  Tutors  or  unmarried  Professors  has  his 
apartments,  so  that  no  disorderly  conduct  can 
take  place  in  any  of  the  rooms  without  the  pro- 
bability of  its  being  discovered.  The  happy  effect 
of  this  and  the  other  regulations  is  demonstrated 
by  the  fact,  that  there  has  never  been  any  open 
rebellion  in  Yale  College.  There  has  been  but 
one  approach  to  extensive  insubordination,  and 
that  was  directed  not  against  the  Professors,  but 
against  the  cooks.  In  this  instance  the  two 
younger  classes  absented  themselves  in  a  body 
from  commons ;  and  on  the  reason  of  such  con- 
duct being  demanded,  they  represented  that  the 
food  had  been  very  carelessly  prepared.  The 
Professors  replied  that  their  mode  of  resenting 
this  was  disorderly  and  unconstitutional,  and  that 
till  they  returned  to  their  duty,  no  enquiry  could 
take  place  respecting  it.  The  students  immediate- 
ly returned  to  commons,  and  presented  a  petition 
for  redress;  examination  was  instituted,  and  the 
complaint  proving  well  founded,  some  of  the  cooks 
were  punished  and  harmony  restored. 

The  hours  of  study  commence  in  summer  at 
five  o'clock,  and  in  winter  at  six.  Morning  and 

VOL.  i.  .   N 


146        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

evening  prayers,  with  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
take  place  in  the  chapel,  at  which  every  student  is 
required  to  be  present.  Regularity  of  attendance 
in  the  class  rooms  at  the  hours  of  recitation,  is  rigid- 
ly enforced,  and  except  during  the  hours  of  recrea- 
tion, which  are  three  or  four  in  the  course  of  the 
day,  no  one  is  allowed  to  be  absent  from  his  apart- 
ment. They  are  forbidden  to  frequent  an  inn,  or 
to  be  absent  from  commons  without  special  invita- 
tion of  a  friend,  and  permission  of  the  Professors  ; 
they  must  not  attend  any  ball  or  theatrical  re- 
presentation during  term  time,  or  play  at  any 
game  of  chance.  When  the  number  of  students 
exceeds  what  can  be  accommodated  in  the  College 
buildings,  the  overplus  are  permitted,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Faculty,  to  lodge  with  private  fam- 
ilies ;  but  they  are  still  subject  to  the  laws  which 
regulate  the  other  students.9  It  has  always  been 
observed  however,  that  of  those  who  live  out  of 
College,  a  much  larger  proportion  become  obnox- 
ious to  censure  and  dismission,  than  of  those  who 
are  within  the  walls.  On  Sabbath  and  public 
Fast  or  Thanksgiving  days,  all  the  students  are  re- 
quired to  attend  worship  in  the  College  Chapel; 
except  those  of  a  different  religious  denomination, 
who  have  obtained  liberty  to  attend  some  other 

9  '  Boarding  out,'  as  it  is  called,  is  now  much  less  necessary,  in 
consequence  of  the  erection  of  two  new  buildings,  with  increased 
accommodation  for  lecture  rooms  and  sleeping  apartments.  (Nov. 
1820.) 


EXPENSE  OF  EDUCATION.  147 

place  of  worship.  During  the  remainder  of  the 
day  they  must  keep  to  their  apartments,  and  are 
expected  to  be  engaged  in  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

The  expense  of  education  at  Yale  College  is  I 
believe  rather  less  than  at  Harvard.      The    cost 
of  tuition,  boarding   within  the  College,  fuel   and 
light,  washing,  use  of  furniture,  books,  stationary, 
&c.  is  rated  by  the  lowest  estimate  at  from  £40  to 
£50  sterling ;  to  live  out  of  the  College  costs  at  least 
£20  more.     The  expense  of  attending  the  medical 
school,  during  the  course  of  five  months,  amounts 
to  about  the  same  sum.     To  this  must  be  added, 
by  those  who  come  from  a  distance,  travelling  ex- 
penses, and  boarding  during  the  vacations.     Cal- 
culating  these,  and   other  usual  contingencies,   I 
believe  that  few  students  can  keep  their  expendi- 
ture much  under  about  £100  sterling  a  year;  and 
some   of  the   more  extravagant  frequently  spend 
twice  as  much.     The  College  bills  are  paid  by  the 
academical  students  three  times  a  year,  to  the  Trea- 
surer and  Steward,  not  as  with  us  to  the  individual 
Professors.     The  President  has  an  annual  salary 
of  about  £450  sterling,  the  Professors  from  £270, 
to  £340.     In  the  medical  department  the  Profes- 
sors receive  no  other  salary  than  the  fees  of  the 
students;  with  the  exception  of  one  who  has  an 
annual  stipend  of  £90  sterling.     The  Professors  of 
Chemistry  and  Mathematics,  besides  their  salaries 
as  academical  Professors,  have  half  of  the  fees  re- 
N  2 


148        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

ceived  from  medical  students  and  strangers,  who 
attend  their  classes. 

There  are  three  literary  societies  conducted  by 
the  students,  called  the  '  Linonian,'  the  *  Brothers,' 
and  the  f  Calliopean,'  with  one  or  other  of  which 
all  must  be  connected.  Two  of  these  societies 
have  libraries  containing  upwards  of  a  thousand 
volumes.  Their  proceedings  are  sanctioned  by 
the  Professors.  A  society  of  a  superior  kind  exists 
among  them  which  is  called  the  "  Phi  Beta  Kappa/' 
but  respecting  its  nature  I  can  give  little  informa- 
tion, for  its  regulations  and  management  are  kept 
profoundly  secret.  The  students  are  not  eligible 
to  it  till  the  latter  part  of  the  third  year,  and  not 
more  than  about  a  third  of  a  class  are  admitted. 
The  President  is  usually  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
the  State,  or  an  officer  of  the  College,  and  the  hon- 
our of  membership  is  an  object  of  much  ambition. 
I  observe  that  several  of  the  members  wear  on 
their  watch  Key,  the  cabalistic  letters,  4>  B  K,  with 
a  hand  pointing  to  a  star.  Among  the  students 
there  are  also  a  Moral,  a  Missionary,  and  a  Bible 
Society. 

,••    Yale  College  is  possessed  of -a  valuable  library, 
philosophical  apparatus,  and  cabinet  of  minerals. 

The  library  contains  nearly  eight  thousand  vol- 
umes, and  is  open  under  certain  regulations  to  the 
Professors,  Tutors,  resident  Graduates,  medical 
students,  and  the  two  senior  academical  classes. 

The  greater  part  of  the   philosophical   instru- 
8 


AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  SCIENCE.  149 

ments  were  purchased  in  London  in  1805,  by  Pro- 
fessor Silliman,  who  was  despatched  on  this  hon- 
ourable mission  by  his  brother  Professors.  This 
gentleman,  after  spending  the  greater  part  of  the 
summer  and  autumn  in  England,  attempted  to  visit 
Paris  by  way  of  Holland,  but  was  unceremoniously 
stopped  on  the  imperial  confines  of  the  '  great  na- 
tion,' and  compelled  to  make  all  haste  back  again ; 
he  studied  during  the  winter  at  Edinburgh  Col- 
lege, and  returned  in  the  succeeding  spring  by 
way  of  Glasgow  and  Greenock  to  New  York.  He 
has  published  a  journal  of  his  travels  in  two 
octavo  volumes;  and  it  is  calculated  to  flatter 
our  national  vanity,  that  two  editions  have  been 
sold  off,  so  completely,  that  I  found  difficulty  in 
procuring  in  New  Haven  even  a  used  copy.  Mr. 
Silliman's  observations  on  the  national  character 
of  the  British,  are  distinguished  throughout  by  the 
utmost  liberality  and  kindness,  and  he  has  evinced 
a  particular  partiality  to  the  domestic  manners  of 
Scotland.  You  cannot  fail  to  be  gratified  by  his 
comments  on  a  Scotish  c  good  night.' 

'  The  American  Journal  of  Science'  has  been 
recently  begun  here,  under  Mr.  Silliman's  editorial 
care.  This  publication,  like  Dr.  Thomson's  *  An- 
nals of  Philosophy,'  is  devoted  to  original  com- 
munications and  intelligence  on  the  various  subjects 
of  chemistry,  experimental  philosophy,  natural 
history,  the  ornamental  and  useful  arts.  America 
furnishes  an  ample  and  almost  unbroken  field  for 
N3 


150         LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

information  on  such  subjects,  and  I  doubt  not  that 
this  journal  will  do  much  to  increase  the  fame  of 
the  philosophers  of  the  republic,  and  to  conciliate 
the  respect  of  scientific  men  of  every  country.10 

Connected  with  the  philosophical  department  is 
a  most  commodious  and  well  furnished  chemical 
laboratory;  to  which  the  students  are  admitted, 
that  they  may  have  an  opportunity  of  gaining  a 
practical  acquaintance,  with  the  many  delicate  and 
interesting  experiments  of  modern  chemistry;  an 
advantage  which  can  never  be  enjoyed  in  an  or- 
dinary lecture  room. 

The  cabinet  of  minerals  is  by  far  the  finest  in 
America ;  and  in  Europe  I  understand  there  are 
but  few  that  surpass  it. 

This  superb  collection  is  principally  the  property 
of  a  Colonel  Gibbs,  an  enthusiastic  and  scientific 
mineralogist,  who  with  equal  liberality  and  good 
taste  has  deposited  his  minerals  within  the  college 
walls,  as  being  in  every  point  of  view  the  most  suit- 
able place  for  them.  Colonel  Gibbs'  collection 
contains  about  18,000  well  selected  specimens, 
many  of  which  are  exceedingly  rare  and  valuable. 
It  was  formed  by  combining  two  European  cabi- 

10  A  third  and  enlarged  edition  of  Professor  Silliman's  British 
Travels,  has  followed  me  across  the  Atlantic;  accompanied  by  a 
'  Tour  to  Quebec'  which  he  has  recently  published,  and  wliich 
contains  much  correct  information  respecting  Canada  and  its  in- 
habitants, characterized  by  the  same  manliness  and  candour  which 
distinguish  the  former  publication.  (Dec.  1821.) 


MINERALS — RESOURCES  OF  THE  COLLEGE.    151 

nets ;  the  one  that  of  M.  Gigot  D'Orcy  of  Paris, 
one  of  the  Farmers  General  under  Louis  XVI. 
guillotined  during  the  sway  of  Robespierre,  the 
other  formerly  belonging  to  Count  Razamuski  a 
Russian,  who  had  taken  refuge  from  political  ani- 
mosities at  Lausanne  in  Switzerland,  but  on  receiv- 
ing permission  to  return  home  sold  his  minerals  to 
Colonel  Gibbs,  who  was  then  studying  under  the 
celebrated  Professor  Struve.  To  these  he  added 
many  specimens  collected  by  his  own  industry.  It 
is  believed  that  a  cabinet  equally  complete  could 
not  be  purchased  in  Europe  for  less  than  £5000 
sterling.  Along  with  these  are  arranged  between 
five  and  six  thousand  specimens,  the  property  of 
the  College  and  of  Professor  Silliman,  to  which  ad- 
ditions are  frequently  made.11 

The  pecuniary  resources  of  Yale  College,  are 
unfortunately  no  way  equal  to  the  science  and  zeal 
of  its  Professors.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the 
unhappy  prejudice  which  prevails,  throughout  the 
State,  to  every  thing  above  the  rank  of  a  common 
English  School;  and  this  illiberal  sentiment  has 
operated  most  powerfully  to  restrain  the  capabilities 
of  Yale  College.  The  annual  income  of  the  insti- 
tution does  not  amount  at  present  to  £4500  ster- 
ling, and  of  this,  only  about  £800  is  from  real 
stock ;  the  whole  remaining  sum  is  derived  from 


11  In  one  of  the  new  buildings  a  spacious  hall  84°  feet  by  4-2 
has  been  fitted  up  for  the  Minerals.  (Dec.  1821.) 


152        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

the  fees  of  students  and  other  fluctuating  sources. 
From  this  income  are  paid  the  salaries  of  the 
Professors,  Tutors,  and  other  officers,  repairs  on 
the  old  buildings  and  the  erection  of  new  ones,  the 
increase  of  the  library  and  philosophical  apparatus, 
as  well  as  other  contingencies.  For  all  the  im- 
provements which  have  been  lately  made,  the  Col- 
lege is  entirely  indebted  to  the  economizing  efforts 
of  its  managers,  and  the  distinguished  talents  and 
industry  of  its  Presidents  and  Professors.  The 
reputation  which  it  acquired  under  the  late  vene- 
rated Dr.  Dwight,  has  been  well  sustained  by  the 
members  of  its  Faculty  who  have  survived,  or  suc- 
ceeded him ;  and  the  salutary  principles  upon 
which  its  concerns  are  regulated,  give  the  fairest 
promise  that  its  superiority  will  be  perpetuated. 

Were  the  Government  and  people  of  Connecti- 
cut suitably  alive  to  the  honour  and  importance, 
in  a  national  point  of  view,  of  cherishing  this  nur- 
sery of  the  liberal  arts,  they  would  *  delight  to  ho- 
nour' it  with  their  legislative  support  and  bounty. 
They  would  endow  new  professorships ;  they  would 
enable  the  College  to  purchase  Colonel  Gibbs' 
minerals,  which  it  is  believed  he  would  sell,  and 
so  prevent  the  possibility  of  their  ever  being  re- 
moved ;  they  would  bestow  upon  the  library  a  per- 
manent fund  for  its  annual  augmentation ;  they 
would,  in  a  word,  at  once  raise  the  institution  from 
its  present  almost  total  dependence  on  the  fluc- 
tuating prosperity  of  agriculture  and  trade.  Thus 


AMERICAN  AND  SCOTISH  UNIVERSITIES.       153 

would  they  place  upon  a  secure  basis,  the  pros- 
perity of  a  seminary  which  exerts  a  most  power- 
ful and  most  salutary  influence  upon  the  national 
character  ;  which  contributes  largely  to  foster  that 
mental  superiority  which  birth  cannot  confer,  nor 
wealth  of  itself  purchase,  and  which  has  in  all 
ages  largely  contributed  to  decide  the  destinies  of 
nations.12 

Were  we  to  institute  a  comparison  between 
American  and  Scotish  university  education,  the 
result  would  not,  I  believe,  be  in  every  respect 
favourable  to  ourselves.  The  systems  are  essen- 
tially different,  and  each  has  its  peculiar  advan- 
tages. 

In  Scotland  none  of  the  students  live  within  the 
college  walls,  nor  do  the  Professors  exercise  any 
superintendence  over  their  time,  excepting  during 
the  class  hours.  Throughout  the  rest  of  the  day 
they  may  be  idle  or  industrious,  choose  good  society 

13  A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review,  after  enlarging  on  this 
subject  with  a  zeal  that  does  honour  to  a  member  of  a  rival  institu- 
tion, adds ; — "  To  appeal  moreover  to  a  feeling  which  has  perhaps 
had  too  great  influence  over  the  legislatures,  which  have  successively 
withheld  the  public  patronage  from  Yale,  we  would  add  that  on  the 
simple  footing  of  pecuniary  account  the  State  is  much  indebted  to 
the  college.  The  latter  brings  annually  into  circulation  in  Con- 
necticut many  thousands  of  dollars,  and  has  done  so  for  a  long 
course  of  years.  It  lays  no  small  part  of  the  country  under  contri- 
bution, to  increase  the  wealth  of  Connecticut ;  and  it  were  but  com- 
mon justice  in  the  State,  to  return  into  the  funds  of  the  college,  a 
small  portion  of  the  means  which  the  college  gathers  for  the  State." 
North  American  Review,  No.  XXXIX.  ]).  396. 


154        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

or  bad,  visit  the  church  or  the  theatre,  as  they  or 
their  friends  please.     All  those  who  are  immedi- 
ately under  the  eye  of  their  parents  are  of  course 
left  to  their  management  and  superintendence,  and 
this  may  by  many  be  esteemed  incompatible  with 
the  American  system,  but  it  is  not  so — the  regula- 
tions of  Yale  College  do  not  require  that  any  whose 
parents  reside  in  New  Haven,  should  either  eat  or 
sleep  in  the  college,  but  they  require  that  by  them 
as  well  as  others,  the  hours  appointed  for  private 
study  should  be  so  appropriated.     With  regard  to 
students  who  come  from  a  distance  the  advantage 
is  certainly  in  favour  of  America,  for  in  place  of 
being  left  as  in  Glasgow  exposed  to  the  allurements 
and  vice  of  a  populous  city,  scattered  up  and  down 
without  one  to  control  or  to  care  for  them,  they 
are  sheltered  and  watched  over  with  unremitting 
care ;  and  every  effort  is  made  to  form  their  moral 
character,  as  well  as  to  instruct  them  in  literature 
and  the  sciences. 

In  Glasgow  no  restriction  exists  as  to  the  age  at 
which  students  enter  College,  nor  as  to  the  amount 
of  reading  which  is  requisite  for  admission.  Boys 
of  eleven  and  twelve  are  not  unfrequently  seen 
wearing  the  enviable  scarlet  gown ;  and  if  most  of 
those  who  enter  have  a  competent  knowledge  of 
Latin,  and  many  a  trifling  acquaintance  with  Greek, 
it  is  owing  almost  entirely  to  the  excellent  system 
of  our  Grammar  School,  for  some  of  the  country 
students  bring  but  very  little  of  the  one  language, 


GLASGOW  UNIVERSITY.  155 

and  not  a  single  letter  of  the  other.  It  would  be 
a  manifest  improvement  to  admit  none  under  four- 
teen or  fifteen,  and  to  require  an  examination  on 
a  certain  number  of  classical  authors. 

The  '  curriculum,'  as  it  is  termed  at  Glasgow, 
includes  Latin,  Greek,  Logic,   Moral  Philosophy, 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy;  and  except- 
ing the  last  two,   each  branch  may  be  said  to  be 
studied  individually ^  that  is  without  any  necessary 
connexion  with  the  others.     Thus,  during  the  first 
and  second  year  the  student's  attention  is  devoted 
to   Latin   and   Greek,   and  to  them  alone ;  he  is 
quite  at  liberty  to  forget,  during  this  period,   that 
there  are  such  things  as  English  grammar,   arith- 
metic, or  geography.     The  third  year  is  devoted 
o    Logic,    or    rather   to   the  improvement  of  his 
cowers   of  knowledge,   taste,   and   communication, 
vitli  particular  reference  to  the  study  of  general 
grammar   and    English    composition.      Latin  and 
Greek  may  now  be  laid  almost  entirely  on  the  shelf. 
The  fourth  year  brings  the  student  into  the  mazes 
of  Ethics  and  Morals;  a  little  is  read  of  the  Lathi 
ahilosophical  writers,  and  the  practice  of  English 
omposition  is  continued.     During  this  session  it 
is  customary  to  study  Mathematics,   but  all  other 
subjects  are   '  beyond   the  record.'     The  fifth  and 
last  session  finds  the  student  in  the  Natural  Philo- 
sophy class,  and  now  Ethics,   Logic,  Greek  and 
Latin,  may  all  be  more  or  less  neglected.     This 
finishes  the  academical  course ;  an  examination  is 


156        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

undergone  by  those  who  wish  a  degree  in  Arts,  upon 
the  various  subjects  which  have  been  studied,  and 
excepting  those  who  are  preparing  for  the  church, 
the  legal  or  medical  professions,  few  think  of  going 
farther. 

The  system  is  remarkably  different  at  Yale  Col- 
lege. No  subject  occupies  the  student's  attention, 
so  as  to  exclude  others  equally  important ;  all  are 
studied  in  their  natural  succession,  but  in  such  a 
way  as  always  to  keep  in  view  what  has  been  ac- 
quired, and  thus  not  allow  one  thing  to  jostle  out 
another.  The  student  takes  a  larger  range  also 
in  Yale  College  than  is  obtained  at  Glasgow; 
Arithmetic,  Geography,  Rhetoric  and  Forensic 
Disputation,  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy,  must  all 
be  studied  during  the  academical  course.  It  is  not 
sufficient  that  in  Glasgow  most  of  these  branches 
may  be  acquired  during  the  same  period,  they  form 
no  part  of  the  *  curriculum,'  and  are  very  generally 
neglected  by  all  but  professional  students.  There 
can  scarcely  then  remain  a  doubt,  but  that  more 
general  knowledge  will  be  acquired  at  Yale  than 
at  Glasgow  College,  by  those  who  study  only  what 
they  are  forced  to  do;  and  of  what  is  thus  acquired, 
more  is  likely  to  be  retained. 

The  pMic  examinations  are  more  frequent  and 
more  minute  at  Yale  College,  than  at  Glasgow. 
Before  entering  an  advanced  class,  the  students  in 
Glasgow  College  are  publicly  examined  on  the 
studies  of  the  previous  year,  but  in  Yale  each 


SYSTEMS  OF    GLASGOW  AND  YALE.  157 

class  is  twice  a  year  minutely  scrutinized  on  the 
whole  range  of  their  previous  studies.  The 
private  examinations  are  probably  in  both  pretty 
nearly  equal. 

In  Glasgow  every  one  who  enters  is  matricu- 
lated as  a  matter  of  course,  and  misconduct  in  the 
class  room  is  punished  by  a  pecuniary  mulct,  while 
dismission  from  College  is  so  rare,  that  a  case  of  it 
may  not  occur  for  ten  or  fifteen  years.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  recapitulate  the  very  different  regula- 
tions at  Yale,  or  to  enlarge  upon  their  salutary 
influence. 

The  lecture  and  recitation  hours  with  us  are 
two  or  three  a  day,  for  each  class ;  the  remainder 
of  his  time  is  at  the  student's  own  disposal.  At 
Yale  only  a  small  portion  of  the  day  is  allowed  for 
recreation;  the  rest  must  be  devoted  to  study. 
The  session  at  Glasgow  lasts  for  six  months;  the 
vacation  for  other  six.  At  Yale  the  whole  three 
recesses  amount  only  to  twelve  weeks ;  probably  it 
would  be  better  that  they  should  occur  at  one 
period,  but  certainly  to  spend,  as  we  do,  six 
months  out  of  twelve  in  relaxation,  is  too  much. 

There  are  however  in  Glasgow  College  some 
important  features  of  superiority.  The  lectures  at 
the  private  hour  to  the  Latin  and  Greek  classes, 
upon  antiquities,  the  higher  topics  of  criticism,  and 
their  connexion  with  the  philosophy  of  language 
and  general  grammar,  are  I  believe,  of  a  decidedly 
superior  character  to  any  that  are  usually  met  with 

VOL.  i.  o 


158        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

elsewhere.  The  exercises  also  of  the  Logic  class, 
as  they  are  at  present  conducted  in  Glasgow,  have 
given  the  College  a  celebrity  in  this  department 
which  no  similar  institution  in  the  kingdom  enjoys. 
It  is  not  easy  to  calculate  how  much  is  effected 
during  this  session  alone  in  training  the  young 
mind  to  habits  of  industry  and  accuracy,  which 
are  of  the  utmost  importance  in  future  life,  and 
are  singularly  suited  to  qualify  the  intellectual 
powers  for  successful  exercise,  in  all  circumstances 
nnd  on  all  subjects.  The  gentleman  who  has  so 
long  and  so  ably  filled  the  Logic  chair  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,13  has  had  the  appropriate, 
and  certainly  most  gratifying  reward,  of  seeing 
many  of  his  students  rise  to  the  highest  celebrity 
in  future  life,  and  of  hearing  them  ascribe  their  suc- 
cess to  the  lent  of  mind  which  they  acquired  while 
under  his  tuition. 

The  excitements  to  exertion  which  result  from 
the  public  distribution  of  prizes,  are  in  Glasgow 
much  more  numerous  than  in  Yale  College;,  and 
this  to  a  certain  degree  is  decidedly  advantageous. 
The  public  honours  of  the  '  First  of  May'  have 
a  powerful  effect  in  exciting  the  emulation  of  the 
young  students;  and  many  an  hour  during  the 
long  vacation  is  redeemed  from  idleness,  of  which 
otherwise  no  good  account  could  have  been  render- 

13  Mr.  Jardine ;  author  of  a  volume  in  which  his  system  of  tuition 
is  fully  developed,  entitled,  "  Outlines  of  Philosophical  Education," 
&c. 


PRIZES — BURSARIES.  159 

eel.  The  allotment  of  the  rewards  for  prize  exer- 
cises is  conducted  with  scrupulous  precaution,  and 
as  the  authors  remain  unknown  to  the  judges 
till  the  decision  is  publicly  announced,  perfect 
confidence  is  reposed  in  the  impartiality  of  the 
verdict.  It  is  otherwise  however  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  class  prizes ;  these  are  determined 
by  the  votes  of  the  students,  and  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  conflicting  motives  and  feelings  sway  the 
minds  of  the  voters,  and  modify  the  impartiality 
of  their  suffrages.  The  abstract  propriety  of  such 
excitements  has  often  been  questioned;  and  though 
many  objections  are  fairly  chargeable  against  them 
I  am  inclined  to  think,  that,  constituted  as  the  hu- 
man mind  is,  more  wisdom  will  be  shown  by  their 
well-regulated  use,  than  by  their  total  abolition. 

Few,  if  any,  bursaries,  or  exhibitions  as  they  are 
styled  in  England,  are  connected  with  the  Ameri- 
can colleges.14  In  Scotland  the  value  of  these  is 
exceedingly  small,  generally  about  five  guineas 
annually,  and  very  rarely  exceeding  ten  ;  yet  trif- 
ling as  they  may  seem,  many  who  afterwards  rose 
high  in  the  literary  world,  were  in  a  great  measure 
dependent  on  such  aid  for  their  College  education. 

14  A  bursary  is  a  small  annual  stipend,  resulting  from  the  bene- 
volent endowment  of  some  friend  to  literature,  and  appropriated  to 
the  assistance  of  students  whose  resources  are  not  ample.  Bursaries 
are  sometimes  in  the  gift  of  the  Professors,  under  limitations  pre- 
scribed by  the  founders ;  and  at  other  times  appointed  as  the  reward 
of  superior  classical  attainments. 

O  2 


160        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

The  paramount  and  peculiar  advantage  however 
of  the  Scotish  Universities,  is  the  low  price  at 
which  education  is  afforded,  and  the  facilities  which 
are  thus  given  to  those  in  the  humblest  ranks  of 
life,  of  raising  themselves  to  respectability  by  liter- 
ary and  scientific  attainments.  Dominie  Samp- 
son's College  life,  is  a  most  appropriate,  and  by 
no  means  an  overcharged  illustration  of  this. 
"  Abel  Sampson,"  says  the  *  Great  Unknown,' 
"  commonly  called  from  his  occupation  as  a  peda- 
gogue Dominie  Sampson,  was  of  low  birth,  but 
having  evinced  even  from  his  cradle  an  uncommon 
seriousness  of  disposition,  the  poor  parents  were 
encouraged  to  hope  that  their  bairn,  as  they  ex- 
pressed it,  might  wag  his  pow  in  a  poupit  yet. 
With  an  ambitious  view  to  such  a  consummation, 
they  pinched  and  pared,  rose  early  and  lay  down 
late,  eat  dry  bread  and  drank  cold  water,  to  secure 
to  Abel  the  means  of  learning."  After  describing 
the  Dominie's  peculiar  habits  and  ungainly  appear- 
ance, our  author  proceeds,  "  He  slunk  from  Col- 
lege by  the  most  secret  paths  he  could  discover, 
and  plunged  himself  into  his  miserable  lodging, 
where,  for  eighteen  pence  a  week,  he  was  allowed 
the  benefit  of  a  straw  mattress,  and,  if  his  land- 
lady was  in  good  humour,  permission  to  study 
his  task  by  her  fire.  Under  these  disadvantages 
he  obtained  a  competent  knowlege  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  and  some  acquaintance  with  the  sciences." 
After  poor  Sampson's  fruitless  efforts  at  pulpit  ora- 


1  DOMINIE  SAMPSON.'  161 

tory,  it  is  recorded  that  "  he  sought  to  assist  his 
parents  by  teaching  a  school,  and  soon  had  plenty 
of  scholars  but  very  few  fees.  In  fact  he  taught 
the  sons  of  farmers  for  what  they  chose  to  give 
him,  and  the  poor  for  nothing ;  and  to  the  shame 
of  the  former  be  it  spoken,  the  pedagogue's  gains 
never  equalled  those  of  a  skilful  ploughman." 

I  doubt  not  that  most  readers  who  are  not  in- 
timately acquainted  with  a  Scotish  College,  have 
regarded  this  sketch  as  broad  caricature,  possess- 
ing only  so  much  resemblance  to  truth  as  was 
necessary  to  identify  the  portrait;  but  there  are 
few  who  have  studied  in  our  native  country  who 
have  not  seen  living  instances  of  almost  equal  po- 
verty and  perseverance,  happily  however  resulting 
in  very  different  success.  The  remarkable,  I 
might  almost  say  instinctive,  desire  for  education 
which  pervades  all  classes  in  Scotland,  from  the 
castle  to  the  cottage,15  has  in  numberless  cases 

15  The  truth  of  the  following  anecdote  comes  within  my  personal 
knowledge.  A  few  years  ago  a  poor  woman,  in  a  small  village  on 
die  west  coast  of  Scotland,  was  by  her  husband's  death  left  dependent 
on  her  own  exertions  for  the  support  of  herself  and  four  children, 
the  eldest  of  whom  was  about  eleven  years  of  age.  Unable  to  bear 
the  expense  of  educating  each  in  the  customary  way,  and  yet  eager 
that  they  should  be  instructed,  she  bargained  with  the  village  school- 
master, that  for  the  price  of  teaching  one,  he  should  allow  two  to 
attend  the  school  alternately,  one  the  one  day  and  the  other  the  next ; 
by  this  ingenious  device,  she  procured  for  both  of  them  the  invalu- 
able blessing  of  education,  and  furnished  a  striking  instance  of  the 
honourable  shifts,  by  which  the  poor  can  often  acquire  for  them- 
selves advantages  which  are  seemingly  beyond  their  attainment. 
03 


162        LETTER  V. YALE  COLLEGE. 

instigated  to  self-denial  on  the  part  of  the  parents, 
and  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  children,  as  great  as 
are  here  depicted ;  and  our  peculiar  system  of  Col- 
lege education  has  afforded  facilities,  which  could 
no  where  else  have  been  found,  for  gratifying  this 
laudable  thirst  for  knowledge.  The  sum  of  eigh- 
teen pence  a  week,  is  indeed  below  the  amount  of 
room  rent  which  I  have  known  to  be  in  any  case 
paid,  but  I  have  known  of  accommodations  being 
had  for  three  shillings  and  sixpence  a  week,  so 
much  superior  to  those  of  poor  Sampson,  that  I 
have  no  doubt  many  have  been  accommodated, 
even  since  I  went  to  College,  for  a  sum  little  ex- 
ceeding that  which  the  poor  Dominie  paid ;  and 
many  it  is  well  known  struggle  their  way  through 
the  different  classes,  dependent  altogether  for  their 
maintenance  on  that  which  was  the  *  sticket  minis- 
ter's' last  resort,  the  teaching  of  a  small  school 
during  the  few  hours  which  they  are  able  to  snatch 
from  their  studies  and  their  sleep.  Names  of  no 
small  renown  may  be  quoted,  who,  by  their  own 
experience  in  this  respect,  knew 

"  how  hard  it  is  to  climb 


The  steep  where  Fame's  proud  temple  shines  afar !" 

The  author  of  these  lines  himself,  the  amiable 
Beattie,  taught  his  way  through  the  University, 
aided  only  by  a  small  bursary  which  was  won  by 
his  superior  merit,  and  it  is  said  that  the  early 
life  of  Dr.  Adams,  the  late  distinguished  rector  of 


CHEAPNESS  OF  SCOTISH  EDUCATION.  163 

the  High  School  at  Edinburgh,  was  a  still  more 
striking  instance  of  successful  struggling  with  ad- 
verse circumstances.  Such  instances  are  sufficient 
to  reconcile  us  in  a  great  measure  to  the  system  of 
our  Scotish  Colleges.  They  could  not  have  hap- 
pened in  England  or  in  America.  Whatever  ad- 
vantages may  be  derived  from  the  students'  living 
within  the  walls,  and  from  few  vacant  hours  being 
left  to  their  own  disposal,  it  necessarily  follows  'that 
little  if  any  difference  can  be  made  in  the  necessary 
cost  of  education,  lodging  and  food ;  and  that  al- 
most nothing  can  be  done  by  a  poor  student  to 
earn  his  own  support.16 

Setting  aside  however  individual  cases,  the 
expense  of  academical  education  in  Glasgow  is 
extremely  moderate.  The  fee  paid  to  the  Pro- 
fessor of  each  class  for  one  session  is  three 
guineas,  and  was  till  lately  but  two.  A  young 
man  therefore  who  attends  two  classes  during 
the  same  session,  as  is  very  customary,  pays  six 
guineas  in  fees;  and  another  guinea  will  dis- 
charge the  minor  academical  charges.  The  cost 
of  board  and  lodging  in  the  city  varies,  of  course, 
according  to  the  inclinations  and  means  of  the  in- 
dividual ;  they  may  be  both  obtained  for  less  than 

w  I  have  subsequently  learned  that  occasionally  a  few  of  the 
students  at  Yale  College  receive  leave  of  absence  for  three  or  four 
months  to  teach  some  of  the  district  schools;  and  that  others 
become  entitled  to  exemptions  from  some  part  of  the  College 
charges,  by  waiting  upon  the  other  students  at  meals,  ringing  the 
College  bell,  &c,  (1823.) 


IGi        LETTER  V. — YALE  COLLEGE. 

ten  shillings,  and  I  believe  that  the  average  amount 
paid  by  those  who  live  in  a  respectable  way,  does 
not  exceed  twenty.  The  allurements  to  extrava- 
gance with  which  a  city  so  large  as  Glasgow 
abounds,  are  certainly  numerous;  but  a  powerful 
barrier  is  opposed  to  their  influence,  when  many 
of  the  students,  so  far  from  having  money  to  ex- 
pend on  frivolities,  are  dependent  for  their  support 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  upon  their  own  exer- 
tions, even  during  the  time  of  their  attending  the 
classes ;  and  some  allowance  must  be  made  in  other 
cases  for  the  characteristic  habits  of  the  Scotish 
nation,  as  to  prudence  and  economy. 

I  have  tried  to  be  impartial  in  this  comparison  of 
the  academical  system  of  the  two  Colleges.  To 
say  that  both  of  them  are  susceptible  of  improve- 
ment, is  only  to  say  that  they  are  human  institu- 
tions. Both  however  attain  with  considerable  suc- 
cess the  objects  of  their  institution ;  they  develop 
the  mental  faculties  of  the  young,  store  their  minds, 
with  literary  and  scientific  knowledge,  and  train 
them  to  active  efforts  in  the  discovery  and  com- 
munication of  truth ;  the  philanthropist  will  there- 
fore regard  each  of  them  as  the  source  of  unmeas- 
ured benefit  to  the  human  race,  and  he  will  cordi- 
ally wish  their  conductors  increased  success  in  their 
salutary  labours. 

I  was  present  on  one  occasion  at  the  splen- 
did annual  ceremonial  of  the  *  Commemoration' 
at  Oxford;  beyond  all  comparison  the  most  im- 


OXFORD    '  COMMEMORATION.'  165 

posing  scene  of  a  literary  kind  that  I  ever  wit- 
nessed. The  great  officers  of  the  University, 
heads  of  houses,  and  young  noblemen,  were  all 
arrayed  in  their  appropriate  and  gorgeous  cos- 
tumes, and  the  highest  academic  honours  were 
conferred,  with  every  attention  to  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance, on  men  of  distinguished  reputation  in 
literature,  arms,  and  hereditary  rank ;  prize  essays 
were  read,  and  the  founders  and  benefactors  of 
the  several  Colleges  *  commemorated'  with  grate- 
ful eulogy,  in  a  long  Latin  oration.  To  such  a 
scene  as  this,  Glasgow  College  and  Yale  are  alike 
unable  to  furnish  a  parallel,  but  the  relative  in- 
fluence of  each  institution  on  the  wellbeing  of 
society,  is  not  thus  to  be  estimated ;  and  botli 
Scotland  and  America  may  reap  the  most  abun- 
dant advantage  from  their  academical  institutions, 
while  the  utmost  simplicity  prevails  in  their  or- 
ganization and  festivals. 


LETTER  VI. 

PRINCETON  COLLEGE PROFESSORSHIPS STUDENTS LOCAL    AD- 
VANTAGES  UNIVERSITY  OF    VIRGINIA PROPOSED    SYSTEM — 

OTHER     AMERICAN     COLLEGES THEOLOGICAL     SEMINARY    OF 

THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH— PROFESSORSHIPS COURSE     OF 

STUDY  CONGREGATIONAL       THEOLOGICAL      SEMINARY  '     AT 

ANDOVER FOREIGN  MISSION  SCHOOL  AT  CORNWALL. 

Princeton,  New  Jersey,  August,  1818. 

A  COLLEGE  was  founded  here  in  the  year  1738, 
which  gradually  attained  to  a  highly  respectable 
rank  as  a  literary  institution.  This  was  more  parti- 
cularly the  case  during  the  presidency  of  the  ven- 
erable Dr.  Witherspoon,  who  was  invited  from 
Scotland  to  occupy  this  honourable  situation. 

Academical  institutions,  like  those  of  other 
kinds,  are  subject  to  many  vicissitudes  of  fortune; 
and  Princeton  College,  from  the  limited  number  of 
its  Faculty,  is  more  so, than  some  others.  In  the 
sister  establishments  of  Yale  and  Harvard,  where 
the  Professors  are  so  much  more  numerous,  a 
casual  mediocrity  of  talent  in  one  or  two,  is 
generally  compensated  by  eminence  in  the  rest ; 
but  here  where  a  President,  two  Professors,  and 
two  Tutors,  form  the  whole  corporation,  much 
more  depends  upon  their  individual  abilities. 

VOL.  I.  r 


170  LETTER  VI. — PRINCETON. 

Upon  the  President,  besides  the  general  super- 
intendence, devolves  the  instruction  of  the  Students, 
in  Theology,  Moral  Philosophy,  Belles  Lettres, 
and  Logic ;  one  of  the  Professors  teaches  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages,  the  other  Mathematics, 
Natural  Philosophy,  and  Chemistry.  The  co- 
operation of  the  Tutors  is  variously  applied,  as 
circumstances  may  render  it  necessary.  It  is  ob- 
vious, that  this  system  requires  no  ordinary  amount 
of  talent,  and  extent  of  acquirement,  in  the  Presi- 
dent and  Professors.  The  branches  of  study 
which  have  been  enumerated,  would  afford  abun- 
dant scope  for  the  skill  and  industry  of  at  least 
half  a  dozen  of  persons, — it  is  too  much  to  expect, 
that  men  will  be  readily  found  capable  of  presid- 
ing, with  success,  in  three  or  four  departments  of 
knowledge,  remotely,  if  at  all,  connected  with  each 
other.  On  some  rare  occasion  indeed,  a  happily 
constituted  mind,  some  man  of  a  thousand,  may  be 
found,  whose  powers  and  industry  are  equal  to  the 
task  which  is  thus  imposed ;  and  when  splendid 
talents  are  brought  into  operation  on  so  wide  a 
field,  the  fame  of  the  college  may  suddenly  rise, 
and  soar  in  proud  pre-eminence  over  every  similar 
institution  ;  but  in  arranging  the  system  of  a  liter- 
ary establishment,  he  would  be  a  visionary  indeed, 
who  would  calculate  on  a  succession  of  such  men, 
to  fill  its  various  departments: — Britain  has  pro- 
duced but  one  Sir  William  Jones. 

There  are  at  present  in  this  college  150  students; 
4 


PRINCETON    COLLEGE.  171 

I 

but  were  the  institution  established  upon  a  more 
liberal  scale — and  this  ought  to  be  the  anxious  care 
of  the  citizens  and  legislature  of  New  Jersey — 
it  is  probable  from  its  local  advantages,  that  its 
students  would  soon  outnumber  those  of  any  other 
American  college.  Situate  midway  between  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  its  proximity  to  both  gives 
it  a  decided  advantage  over  both  Harvard  and 
Yale.  To  the  immense  territory  south  and  west 
of  Philadelphia,  it  is  as  yet  the  nearest  academical 
institution  of  any  considerable  reputation ;  and  will 
certainly,  if  other  things  are  equal,  obtain  a  prefer- 
ence to  those  that  are  two  or  three  hundred  miles 
farther  off.  The  wealthiest  families  in  the  Union, 
and  those  who  scatter  money  most  lavishly,  belong 
to  the  southern  part  of  it,  and  if  a  University  can 
be  supported  any  where,  on  a  liberal  scale,  they 
are  able  to  do  it.  A  young  man  from  Georgia, 
a  student  at  Princeton,  informs  me  that  he  spent 
during  the  first  year  upwards  of  £350  sterling, 
and  probably  he  was  not  singular  in  so  profuse 
an  expenditure. 

A  detailed  account  of  the  discipline  of  Princeton 
would  be  superfluous,  after  the  information  which 
I  have  already  so  fully  communicated  respecting 
Yale.  You  have  there  a  pretty  correct  sketch  of 
academical  education  in  America,  in  its  most  per- 
fect form ;  and  the  differences  which  exist  in  minor 
colleges,  generally  arise  from  the  want  of  means  to 
carry  the  system  into  full  operation.  Princeton 
P2 


172  LETTER  VI. PRINCETON. 

approaches  as  nearly  to  perfection  as  can  be 
expected,  and  it  has  had  the  honour  of  sending 
out  some  of  the  most  distinguished  orators  and 
statesmen,  that  America  has  produced. 

The  State  of  Virginia  is  about  to  establish  a  Uni- 
versity of  the  most  aspiring  kind,  and  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  some  other  of  the  great  names  of  this 
western  hemisphere,  have  combined  their  talents  in 
framing  its  constitution.1  What  the  result  in  this 
instance  may  be,  time  alone  can  determine ;  but 
from  all  circumstances  it  must  be  apparent,  that  a 
great  and  growing  attention  is  bestowed,  through- 
out the  country  on  Literature  and  Science. 

There  are  in  the  extensive  territory  of  the  United 
States,  upwards  of  thirty  colleges.  A  number  of 
these,  it  is  true,  particularly  in  the  western  and 
southern  States,  can  only  be  regarded  as  acade- 
mies ;  there  are,  however,  ten  or  twelve  of  decided 

1  From  first  appearances,  there  seems  reason  to  anticipate  that  this 
proposed  University  will  be  a  total  failure ;  and  from  the  well  known 
sentiments  of  its  founders,  on  speculative  and  revealed  truth,  I  cannot 
much  regret  that  it  should  be  so.  When  it  is  established  on  Christian 
principles,  we  shall  then  rejoice  in  its  success.  As  a  matter  of 
curiosity  I  subjoin  the  outline  of  the  academical  course,  which  the 
Commissioners  for  the  University  have  projected.  They  have  dis- 
posed the  subjects  of  study  into  '  groupes,'  each  of  which  they  say, 
"  is  within  the  powers  of  a  single  Professor,"  if  so,  some  individuals 
of  the  decade  will  be  no  ordinary  men. 

1  Languages  Ancient :  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew. 

2  Languages    Modern;      French,     Spanish,     Italian,      German, 
Anglo-Saxon. 

3  Mathematics  Pure ;  Algebra,  Fluxions,  Geometry  Elementary, 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.          173 

respectability,    and   of  these  five   or  six  are  pre- 
eminent. 

A  Theological  Seminary  has  recently  been 
established  at  Princeton,  by  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States.  The  proximity  of 
this  institution  to  the  College,  must  be  regarded 
as  a  happy  circumstance  for  each ;  for  the  institu- 
tions can  scarcely  fail  to  be  mutually  beneficial. 
Their  combined  advantages  will  probably  induce 
many  young  men  to  select  Princeton  as  their  place 
of  study,  who  might  otherwise  have  gone  elsewhere  ; 
and  the  literary  intercourse  which  is  likely  to  take 
place  between  the  respective  professors,  must  be 
favourable  to  the  development  of  mental  talent, 
and  the  cultivation  of  acquired  knowledge.  An 
outline  of  the  system  of  theological  education  which 
here  prevails,  may  be  a  very  suitable  sequel  to  that 
which  has  been  given  of  a  classical  one. 

Geometry    Transcendental,    Architecture    Military,     Architecture- 
Naval. 

4  Physico- Mathematics ;  Mechanics,  Statics,  Dynamics,  Pneuma- 
tics, Acoustics,  Optics,  Astronomy,  Geography. 

5  Physics,  or  Natural  Philosophy,  Chemistry,  Mineralogy. 

6  Botany,  Zoology. 

7  Anatomy,  Medicine. 

8  Government,  Political  Economy,  Law  of  Nature  and  Nations, 
History,  (being  interwoven  with  Politics  and  Law.) 

9  Law,  Municipal. 

10  Ideology,  General  Grammar,  Ethics,  Rhetoric,  Belles  Lettres, 
and  the  Fine  Arts. 

Additional  information  on  this  subject,   accompanied  with  some 
judicious  observations  on  the  detail  of  the  plan,  will  be  found  in  an 
article  in  the  North  American  Review,  &b.  XXV L  ;>.  115. 
P3 


LETTER  VI. — PRINCETON. 

The  Presbyterian  Theological  Academy  was 
founded  in  1811,  in  consequence  of  an  Act  of  the 
General  Assembly.  The  funds  for  its  establish- 
ment were  derived,  partly  from  collections  through- 
out the  congregations  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Assembly,  and  partly  from  private  subscriptions. 
The  Seminary  has  been  begun  on  so  extensive  a 
scale,  that  though  the  amount  which  was  collected 
was  very  considerable,  it  has  not  been  sufficient 
to  establish  it  at  once  in  a  flourishing  condition ; 
and  hitherto  a  part  only  of  the  projected  plan 
has  been  carried  into  effect.  The  resources  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  however  are  ample,  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  that  farther  efforts 
will  not  be  wanting,  till  the  school  is  endowed 
with  a  revenue  adequate  to  ensure  its  permanent 
efficiency. 

For  lecture  rooms  and  sleeping  apartments,  a  large 
building  has  been  erected,  which  is  said  to  have  cost 
nearly  seventeen  thousand  pounds  sterling.2  As 
yet  this  house  is  but  partly  occupied,  and  I  believe 
that  a  number  of  the  students  reside  in  the  village. 
There  are  at  present  only  two  Professors,  but  it 
is  intended  that  there  should  be  other  two,  and 
some  of  the  Synods  have  begun  to  appropriate 
funds  for  this  purpose.  The  Professors  have  each 
a  salary  of  four  hundred  pounds  sterling,  besides 

2  A  house  for  one  of  the  Professors  has  been  subsequently  finished 
at  an  expense  of  about  -£3500  sterling, — this  is  doing  things  on  a 
liberal  scale. 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.         175 

a  house.  The  students  amount  to  about  eighty. 
The  cost  of  boarding,  lodging  and  other  contin- 
gencies, amounts  in  general  to  £40  or  £50  ster- 
ling a  year,  the  tuition  is  altogether  gratuitous. 

As  yet  there  are  but  four  exhibitions  connected 
with  the  institution,  although  a  large  proportion  of 
those  who  study  have  but  very  limited  resources ; 
measures  however  have  been  adopted  for  their 
gradual  increase.  These  exhibitions,  or  scholar- 
ships as  they  are  termed,  have  each  a  capital  of 
about  £560  sterling,  which  must  be  profitably  in- 
vested, for  trreir  annual  value  is  said  to  be  about 
fifty  pounds. 

The  Professors  are  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly,  and  every  effort  is  made  to  provide  men 
in  whose  principles,  ability,  and  learning,  full  re- 
liance may  be  placed.  Before  admission,  they  are 
required  to  declare  upon  oath,  their  perfect  and 
unreserved  agreement  with  the  Westminster  con- 
fession of  faith  ;  and  the  Assembly  retains  an  ab- 
solute power  to  displace  at  its  own  pleasure,  any 
of  them  who  from  change  of  sentiment,  or  other 
causes,  may  be  judged  unfit  to  continue  in  office. 
These  precautions  are  likely  to  secure  the  agree- 
ment of  the  theological  instructors,  with  the  senti- 
ments of  the  majority  of  the  General  Assembly ; — 
if  that  majority  holds  sound  doctrine,  the  institu- 
tion will  inculcate  the  same,  but  should  "  the  doc- 
trines and  commandments  of  men"  hold  an  ascen- 
dency there,  it  will  be  impossible  to  prevent  the 


176  LETTER  VI. — PRINCETON. 

source  of  instruction  from  being  similarly  contam- 
inated ;  and  this,  as  was  remarked  by  one  of  the 
present  students,  is  one  of  the  great  dangers  to  be 
apprehended  from  a  public  school  of  Divinity,  for 
an  able  but  unsound  Professor  may  corrupt  a 
generation.  The  superintendence  of  the  Seminary 
is  committed  to  a  board  of  thirty  Directors,  whose 
authority  extends  to  all  but  the  appointment  and 
dismissal  of  the  Professors. 

Of  the  Professors  who  are  already  appointed, 
one  lectures  on  Theology,  the  other  on  Ecclesias- 
tical History  and  Church  Government.  The  next 
who  is  added  will  probably  be  devoted  to  Oriental 
Literature. 

The  course  of  study  is  completed  in  three  years, 
but  young  men  may  enter  at  any  period  of  the 
course.  In  each  year  there  are  two  terms ;  the 
first  from  November  6th  to  May  12th,  the 
second  from  July  1st  to  September  25th.  There 
is  no  penal  code  of  discipline  promulgated ;  it 
is  presumed  that  Theological  students  do  not  re- 
quire it. 

The  duties  of  the  first  year  commence  with  the 
study  of  Hebrew,  with  or  without  the  points; 
which  is  for  the  present  taught  by  the  Professor  of 
Theology, — after  which  comes  a  course  of  Jewish 
Antiquities,  in  a  series  of  lectures ;  and  the 
connexion  of  Sacred  and  Profane  History,  in 
which  Prideaux  and  Shuckford  are  used  as  text 
books. 


COURSE  OF  STUDY.  177 

The  second  year  opens  with  stu'dies  relating  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  mind.  Questions  are  pro- 
posed, for  answer  and  illustration,  which  embrace 
the  most  important  doctrines  of  that  science ;  and 
the  student  is  thus  led  to  an  acquaintance  with  the 
works  of  Locke,  Beattie,  Reid,  Hume,  Stewart, 
and  the  other  distinguished  writers  on  metaphysics. 
This  is  employed  as  introductory  to  the  evidences 
and  principles  of  natural  religion,  as  it  is  called, 
from  which  they  pass  to  revealed  religion,  and 
thence  to  didactic  theology.  Turretin  is  the  text 
book  on  this  subject ;  but  the  interrogatory  style 
of  investigation  is  continued,  and  the  student 
is  required  to  extend  his  reading  very  consider- 
ably, that  he  may  become  acquainted  with  the 
various  opinions  and  systems  of  different  writers. 
This  second  division  of  the  course  occupies  about 
fifteen  months. 

During  the  same  period,  the  other  Professor 
carries  the  class  through  ecclesiastical  history ;  on 
which  Mosheim  is  the  text  book,  but  his  deficien- 
cies are  supplied  by  lectures.  Along  with  this  they 
have  also  a  very  complete  course  of  the  historical 
department  of  biblical  criticism. 

During  the  remaining  nine  months,  the  first 
Professor  carries  them  through  polemical  theology, 
in  which  Staeffer  is  the  text  book,  and  completes 
the  subject  of  biblical  criticism.  The  other  Profes- 
sor investigates  with  them  the  various  systems  of 
church  government ;  and  the  course  is  completed 


178  LETTER  VI. — PRINCETON. 

by  lectures,  from  the  one  on  the  pastoral  office, 
and  from  the  other  on  the  composition  of  a  ser- 
mon. Apart  from  the  course  of  public  instruc- 
tion, the  students  have  societies  for  literary  discus- 
sion, and  for  preaching ;  in  the  latter  the  Professors 
preside,  and  they  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  a 
portion  of  the  academical  system. 

During  the  course  there  are  repeated  examina- 
tions before  the  Directors  of  the  Seminary ;  a  more 
particular  one  at  the  close  of  each  session,  and  one 
of  yet  severer  scrutiny  at  the  end  of  the  three 
years.  The  student  is  then  remitted  to  the  presby- 
tery, to  whose  jurisdiction  he  belongs,  by  which 
he  is  again  examined,  and  should  the  result  be  satis- 
factory he  receives  from  the  presbytery  license 
to  preach. 

As  this  institution  is  as  yet  but  in  its  infancy, 
much  cannot  be  said  as  to  its  success.  We  may 
readily  suppose,  however,  that  the  General  Assem- 
bly will  at  all  times  appoint  to  its  superintendence, 
the  ablest  men  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  can 
produce,  and  exercise  over  it  a  watchful  and  fos- 
tering care. 

I  have  already  alluded3  to  a  similar  institution 
at  Andover,  which  is  in  connexion  with  the  New 
England  Congregational  Church.  That  Seminary 
differs  in  some  respects  from  this,  and  in  relation  to 
pecuniary  affairs,  is  for  the  present  in  a  move  flour- 

3  Vide  Letter  Second. 


ANDOVER  THEOLOGICAL  ACADEMY.  179 

ishing  condition.     It  was  founded  in    1808;  and 

O  7 

had  its  origin  in  the  liberality  of  three  or  four 
wealthy  individuals,  who  not  only  bestowed  funds 
sufficient  for  the  commencement  of  the  academy, 
but  as  it  was  observed  to  rise  in  usefulness  and 
reputation,  gradually  enlarged  the  amount  of  their 
munificent  contributions,  till  it  has  become  pos- 
sessed of  several  commodious  buildings,  and  of 
four  endowed  professorships,  worth  it  is  said  from 
£300  to  £400  sterling  a  year.  The  branches 
for  which  they  are  appointed,  are  biblical  litera- 
ture, sacred  rhetoric,  ecclesiastical  history,  and 
systematic  theology ;  with  these  they  combine 
the  other  departments  of  a  theological  education, 
and  the  establishment  is  probably  as  practically 
useful  as  if  the  professorships  were  more  numerous. 
The  chairs  are  said  to  be  reputably  filled ; — one  of 
them  indeed  by  a  gentleman  of  high  celebrity 
throughout  the  whole  Union.  Besides  these  ad- 
vantages Andover  possesses  about  forty  Scholar- 
ships, which  are,  however,  less  in  individual 
amount  than  the  two  at  Princeton.  At  present 
there  are  in  all  upwards  of  one  hundred  students.4 
Among  theological  seminaries  the  '  Foreign 
Mission  School'  at  Cornwall  in  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut is  particularly  worthy  of  notice  j  the  more 

4  A  very  valuable  correspondent,  on  whose  accuracy  I  have  good 
reason  to  place  implicit  reliance,  writes  me  (1822)  that  the  private  bene- 
factions to  the  Anaover  Theological  Academy  since  its  foundation, 
have  already  amounted  to  very  nearly  the  sum  of  .£100,000  sterling 


180  LETTER  VI. — PRINCETON. 

so,  that  there  is  not  in  Britain,  so  far  as  I  know, 
any  similar  institution.  This  academy  is  devoted 
to  the  instruction  of  young  natives  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, with  the  view  of  qualifying  them  to  return  home 
as  missionaries  or  teachers.  It  was  founded  in  con- 
sequence of  what,  in  usual  language,  would  be  called 
the  accidental  arrival  in  America,  in  1809,  of  Oboo- 
kiah,  a  native  of  Owhyhee ;  a  young  man  who  show- 
ed an  ardent  thirst  for  useful  knowledge,  and  who 
falling  under  the  care  of  some  benevolent  and  en- 
lightened individuals  in  New  Haven,  was,  through 
their  instrumentality,  made  acquainted  with  the  im- 
portant truths  of  the  gospel.  Obookiah  made 
considerable  progress  in  literary  studies,  and  soon 
evinced  an  earnest  desire  to  return  to  his  native 
country  as  a  missionary  ;  and  some  other  individ- 
uals of  his  countrymen  having  been  discovered  in 
America,  they  were  brought  together,  that  they 
might  preserve  an  acquaintance  with  their  native 
language,  and  receive  such  an  education  as  would 
be  useful  to  them,  should  any  of  them  be  found 
qualified  and  disposed  to  accompany  Obookiah. 
The  providence  of  God,  however,  has  disappointed 

The  number  of  students  is  rapidly  increasing,  as  the  following  ab- 
stract indicates : — 

Summary  of  the  Andover  Catalogue  for  1821-2. 

Resident  Licentiates     .        5 

Senior  Class  ....     31 

Middle  Class      ...     35 

Junior  Class  ....     61 

Total   132 


FOREIGN  MISSION  SCHOOL  AT  CORNWALL.     181 

the  high  expectations  which  were  formed  of  that 
young  man's  future  usefulness; — he  was  carried 
off  by  a  fever  in  the  early  part  of  this  year,  shortly 
before  the  intended  period  of  his  return  to  his  na- 
tive country.  The  school  continues  to  flourish, 
and  several  boys  belonging  to  the  aboriginal 
tribes  of  this  continent  have  lately  joined  it.5 

Such  an  institution  is  in  the  highest  degree 
praiseworthy ;  not  only  on  account  of  the  philan- 
thropic and  benevolent  views  of  its  founders,  but 
because  of  the  wisdom  of  its  leading  principfe,  and 
because,  if  prudently  conducted,  it  promises  to  be  a 
most  efficient  instrument  of  good,  to  nations  which 
are  now  in  the  grossest  darkness.  Native  teachers, 
and  preachers,  and  translators,  are  no  doubt  to  be 
the  grand  means  of  enlightening  and  civilizing  the 
heathen  world  ;  they  are  familiar  with  the  language, 
the  customs,  the  prejudices,  the  modes  of  thinking, 
and  the  theology  of  their  countrymen,  and  they  are 

5  A  very  interesting  narrative  of  Obookiah's  eventful  life,  has  been 
reprinted  here  in  a  cheap  form,  and  is  sold  by  Mr.  Lang,  Wilson 
Street,  Glasgow,  Mr.  Johnston,  Edinburgh,  and  Mr.  Nisbet,  Lon- 
don. It  will  repay  a  perusal. 

The  Foreign  Mission  School  contained  in  September  1822, 
eighteen  pupils,  namely,  6  Sandwich  Islanders,  1  Malay,  1  Chinese, 
1  New  Zealander,  1  Cherokee,  1  Oneida,  1  Tuscarora,  1  Caughnawa- 
ga,  and  2  Stockbridge  Indians;  3  natives  of  the  United  States,  intend- 
ing to  be  foreign  missionaries.  Seven  of  these  were  professors  of  re- 
ligion. An  Owhyhean  was  expected  soon.  In  March  1823,  two 
young  Greeks  reached  America  from  Malta,  one  15  years  of  age,  the 
other  1 1 .  who  had  come  over  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enjoying  the 
benefit  of  the  school. 


182  LETTER   VI. — PRINCETON. 

exempt  from  the  operation  of  that  feeling  of  dis- 
like, which  necessarily  exists  in  a  large  degree 
among  all  men,  to  the  interference  of  foreigners, 
with  their  religious  belief  and  worship.  The  ex- 
tensive commercial  intercourse  of  America  with 
foreign  nations,  brings  many  of  their  young  men  to 
its  shores ;  and  can  Christian  benevolence  more  hap- 
pily take  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  than  by 
qualifying  such  persons,  to  return  as  instructors  to 
*  their  father's  house,'  even  although  this  instruc- 
tion skould  reach  no  farther  in  the  first  instance 
than  a  knowledge  of  letters  and  the  useful  arts  ? 
The  Bible  and  all  its  blessings  will  necessarily 
follow.  Might  not  our  countrymen  take  a  lesson 
in  this  matter  from  their  western  brethren,  and 
establish  such  a  school  in  Britain,  where  there  is 
a  still  greater  influx  of  foreigners  ? 


LETTER  VII. 

PHILADELPHIA — SITUATION — EXTERNAL  AND  INTERNAL  APPEAR- 
ANCE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS WATER    WORKS PENITENTIARY 

PENNSYLVANIA    HOSPITAL PEALE's    MUSEUM — SKELETON     OF 

THE    MAMMOTH ACADEMY    OF  THE    FINE  ARTS LIBRARIES 

LITERATURE — ENGRAVING — UNIVERSITY — RELIGIOUS    ASPECT 

QUAKER  MEETING  HOUSE  AND  BURYING  GROUND CHURCHES 

AND    SERMONS SABBATH  SCHOOLS NEIGHBOURHOOD    OF    THE 

CITY JOSEPH     BONAPARTE MOREAU GENERAL    VANDAMME 

WOODEN    BRIDGES — PROJECTED  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Philadelphia,  September,  1818. 

THE  position  of  Philadelphia,  although  not  equal 
to  that  of  New  York,  is  yet  well  chosen  in  re- 
ference to  the  character  of  the  surrounding 
country.  The  city  stands  upon  an  isthmus  about 
two  miles  wide,  between  the  Delaware  and  the 
Schuylkill,  five  miles  above  their  confluence,  and 
about  an  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  sea. 
Both  rivers  are  navigable  up  to  the  city  by  the 
largest  merchantmen.  The  Delaware  is  here 
about  a  mile  in  width ;  the  tide  rises  and  falls 
about  six  feet,  and  vessels  of  1200  tons  can  come 
up  to  the  wharfs.  In  severe  winters,  the  com- 
munication with  the  sea  is  still  occasionally  in- 
terrupted ;  but  not  so  frequently  as  formerly,  nor 
Q3 


186  LETTER  VII. PHILADELPHIA. 

for  so  long  at  one  time,  and  as  the  surrounding 
country  becomes  cleared  of  its  forests  the  severity 
of  the  winters  will  be  still  farther  mitigated. 

The  course  of  the  two  rivers  at  the  city  is  very 
nearly  north  and  south,  but  almost  immediately 
above,  they  diverge ;  the  Delaware  to  the  north- 
east, and  the  Schuylkill  to  the  north-west,  thus 
materially  facilitating  the  commercial  communi- 
cation with  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  the 
adjoining  one  of  New  Jersey.  The  Delaware  is 
navigable  by  large  sloops  and  steam  boats  to 
Trenton,  about  thirty  miles  above,  and  the  Schuyl- 
kill, although  above  the  city  comparatively  shallow 
and  disturbed  with  rapids,  is  navigable  by  small 
vessels  and  rafts  to  a  considerable  distance.  A 
little  deepening  of  this  river  in  some  places,  and 
the  cutting  of  short  canals  from  one  stream  to 
another,  would  open  a  communication  for  some 
hundreds  of  miles  into  the  interior.  The  ground 
on  which  the  city  stands,  is  covered  with  a  stratum 
of  fine  clay ;  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill  furnish 
a  plentiful  supply  of  marble,  and  the  country 
around  is  rich  in  timber,  so  that  materials  for 
building  are  most  abundant. 

The  appearance  of  the  city  from  the  river  is  by 
no  means  imposing ;  rather  the  opposite.  The 
ground  is  generally  level,  and  the  mass  of  buildings 
present  a  dull  heavy  uniformity ;  most  of  those 
along  the  bank  are  by  no  means  elegant,  and  only 
a  solitary  steeple  rises  above  the  dense  horizon. 


LOCAL  CHARACTERISTICS,  187 

The  aspect  however  improves  amazingly  when  you 
enter  the  streets,  which  are  wide,  straight,  and 
clean,  and,  with  only  one  exception,  cross  each 
other  at  right  angles.  The  houses  are  in  general 
of  painted  brick,  but  some  of  the  more  modern 
have  a  flight  of  marble  steps  in  front,  and  the 
lintels  of  the  doors  and  windows,  and  even  the  side 
walk  in  front,  are  of  the  same  beautiful  materials. 

When  Penn  laid  out  the  ground  for  his  city, 
he  intended  that  it  should  occupy  a  parallelogram 
one  mile  in  width,  between  the  two  rivers,  and  that 
the  buildings  should  be  kept  within  the  parallel 
lines  till  the  intervening  space  was  filled ;  but  the 
inhabitants  found  that  the  bank  of  the  Delaware 
was  a  more  desirable  situation  than  that  of  the 
Schuylkill,  and  in  consequence,  buildings  have 
stretched  along  the  former  river,  above  and 
below  the  assigned  boundary,  till  the  city  is  here 
about  four  miles  long,  while:  the  streets  are  not 
compactly  built  much  farther  than  half  way  across 
to  the  other  river.  On  both  banks  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill however  a  considerable  number  of  buildings 
have  been  erected.  The  populous  suburb  on  the 
Delaware  to  the  south  of  the  original  boundary  is 
called  Southwark,  that  to  the  north  the  Northern 
Liberties,  and  closer  to  the  river  Kensington.1 

1  The  venerable  elm  under  which  according  to  tradition  Penn 
negociated  his  celebrated  treaty  with  the  Indians,  stood  at  Kensing- 
ton ;  and  the  decayed  trunk  after  being  spared  by  the  British  army 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  weathering  many  a  hard  gale,  was  at 


188  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

Market  street,  100  feet  wide,  stretches  through 
the  centre  of  the  city,  from  the  one  river  to  the 
other;  it  is  crossed,  rather  nearer  the  Schuylkill 
than  midway,  by  Broad  Street,  113  feet  wide,  and 
the  other  streets  are  at  right  angles  to  one  or 
other  of  these.  The  cross  streets  are  from  50  to 
60  feet  wide ;  those  running  parallel  to  the  rivers 
are,  with  a  quaker-Hke  simplicity,  which  however 
affords  a  stranger  important  facilities  in  finding 
his  way,  named  North  and  South,  Front,  Second, 
Third,  Fourth,  and  so  on,  as  they  recede  from 
each  river ;  those  parallel  to  Market  Street  are 
with  more  elegance,  named  after  the  various  kinds 
of  timber  with  which  the  ground  was  formerly 
covered,  Vine,  Sassafras,  Mulberry,  Chesnut, 
Walnut,  Spruce,  Pine  and  Cedar.  Water  Street, 
between  Front  Street  and  the  Delaware,  which 
should  have  been  called  Mud  Lane,  and  the 
wharfs  which  project  into  the  stream,  are  deviations 
from  the  original  plan  of  the  city.  Dock  Street, 
the  only  crooked  one  in  the  city,  was  originally 
the  bed  of  a  sluggish  stream,  which  generated 

last  levelled  a  few  years  ago  by  a  hurricane.  Portions  of  it  are  now 
eagerly  sought  after  by  relic  hunters,  to  be  converted,  like  the  Cruick- 
stone  Yew  and  the  rafters  of  Alloway  Kirk,  into  snuff  boxes  and 
other  toys.  I  lately  discovered  in  an  old  Baltimore  newspaper, 
what  is  said  to  be  a  copy  of  Penn's  treaty ;  it  is  in  the  form  of  an 
indenture,  and  the  following  are  the  articles  which  it  specifies  as 
having  been  given  to  the  Indians,  in  exchange  for  the  ground 
between  the  two  rivers,  '  as  far  as  a  man  can  ride  in  two  days  with 
a  horse.'  "  20  guns,  20  fathoms  matchcoat,  20  fathoms  stroud- 


STREETS.  189 

noxious    air,    and   was   a  few    years  ago  arched 
over. 

Not  many  wooden  houses  are  now  to  be  seen  in 
the  streets;  the  greater  part  were  extirpated  by 
fires,  which  on  different  occasions  spread  dreadful 
havoc,  and  since  1796  their  erection  has  been  pro- 
hibited. The  side  walks  are  wider,  and  less  en- 
cumbered than  those  of  New  York.  Many  of 
them  are  skirted  with  Lombardy  poplars.  In  hot 
weather  numerous  awnings  are  stretched  along  in 
front  of  the  stores,  the  footwalks  are  cooled  by 
frequent  ablutions  with  water,  and  the  atmosphere 
has  a  freshness  and  purity  which  is  very  uncommon 
in  so  large  a  city. 

Market  Street  which,  to  correspond  with  its 
situation,  should  have  been  the  most  elegant  in  the 
city,  is  disfigured  by  a  long  covered  piazza  in  the 
centre,  of  the  plainest  possible  appearance,  under 
which  the  venders  of  meat,  fish,  poultry,  vegetables, 
fruit,  earthen  and  wooden  ware,  expose  their  com- 
modities for  sale ;  and  on  either  side  are  carts  and 
wheelbarrows  loaded  with  additional  supplies. 

water,  20  blankets,  20  kettles,  20  pounds  powder,  100  bars  lead, 
40  tomahawks,  100  knives,  40  pairs  stockings,  1  barrel  beer,  20 
pounds  red  lead,  100  fathoms  wampum,  30  glass  bottles,  30  pewter 
spoons,  100  awl  blades,  300  tobacco  pipes,  100  hands  tobacco,  20 
tobacco  tongs,  20  steels,  300  flints,  30  pairs  scissars,  30  combs,  60 
looking  glasses,  200  needles,  1  skipple  salt,  30  pounds  sugar,  5 
gallons  molasses,  20  tobacco  boxes,  100  Jew's  harps,  20  hoes,  30 
gimblets,  30  wooden  screw  boxes,  100  strings  of  beads."  This 
curious  document  does  not  appear  in  Clarkson's  life  of  Perm. 


LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

Upon  the  whole,  however,  the  streets  are  much 
superior  to  the  mass  of  those  in  New  York,  although 
individually,  not  one  of  them  can  be  compared  with 
Broadway,  nor  is  there  a  walk  or  a  prospect  equal 
to  what  the  Battery  affords. 

Some  of  the  public  buildings  do  honour  alike  to 
the  liberality  of  the  citizens,  and  to  the  classical 
taste  of  the  architects  by  whom  they  were  de- 
signed. The  banking  house  of  Mr.  Girard,  pre- 
sents an  elegant  front  almost  entirely  of  white 
marble.  A  lofty  Corinthian  portico,  of  fluted 
columns,  rises  from  a  flight  of  steps  to  the  full 
height  of  the  building,  and  corresponding  pilasters 
are  extended  on  both  sides.  The  Bank  of  Penn- 
sylvania is  a  still  more  perfect  structure,  and 
makes  a  nearer  approach  to  classical  models  than 
any  that  I  have  ever  seen.  The  whole  building, 
including  even  the  roof,  is  of  white  marble.  Its 
form  is  a  parallelogram  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  feet  long,  and  fifty-one  feet  broad;  at  each 
end  is  a  flight  of  ten  steps  supporting  a  chaste  Ionic 
portico  of  six  columns,  with  an  entablature,  and 
pediment.  The  entablature  is  carried  round  the 
building,  but  the  sides  are  otherwise  plain.  Under 
the  porticoes,  the  Grecian  character  has  been  care- 
fully preserved,  and  in  neither  is  there  any  opening 
but  a  single  door  in  the  centre. 

This  magnificent  edifice  is  said  to  have  been 
designed  from  a  temple  at  Athens,  and  the  very 
remarkable  correctness  of  its  principal  features, 


PUBLIC   BUILDINGS WATER   WORKS.          191 

combined  with  the  appropriate  and  beautiful  ma- 
terial of  which  it  is  composed,  produce  a  most 
pleasing  effect  on  the  spectator's  mind,  and  forcibly 
impress  him  with  the  sad  inferiority  of  modem 
decoration,  to  the  simple  elegance  of  Grecian 
models.  The  situation  which  this  noble  edifice 
occupies  is  low  and  confined,  and  materially  in- 
jures its  effect. 

The  foundation  has  just  been  dug  for  a  building 
for  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  the  front  of 
which  is  also  to  be  in  the  purest  Grecian  style  and 
of  white  marble.2 

None  of  the  other  buildings  are  particularly  de- 
serving of  notice.  Two  imitations  of  the  Gothic 
have  been  attempted ;  the  one  a  Bank,  the  other 
a  Masonic  Hall.  The  buildings  are  necessarily 
on  a  small  scale,  and  the  fatal  incongruity  of 
red  brick  walls,  with  white  marble  buttresses  and 
pinnacles,  must  strike  every  one  who  has  seen  an 
ancient  Gothic  building. 

Philadelphia  is  furnished  with  a  copious  supply 
of  pure  water,  which  is  conveyed  in  pipes  through- 
out the  whole  city.  This  has  been  found  here,  as 
every  where  else,  to  be  eminently  conducive  to  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants,  and  has 
materially  aided  in  lessening  the  danger  of  fire, 

8  This  structure  has  been  completed,  and  is  highly  spoken  of. 
The  front  is  a  portico  of  the  full  height  of  the  building,  consisting 
of  eight  columns  of  the  chastest  Doric,  rising  from  a  flight  of  steps 
and  supporting  a  corresponding  entablature  and  pediment.  (1822.) 


192  LETTER  VII. PHILADELPHIA. 

and  the  prevalence  of  infectious  diseases.  In  all 
that  respects  the  virtue  of  cleanliness.  New  York 
would  do  well  to  take  a  lesson  from  the  rival  city. 
The  water  is  raised  by  the  steam  engine  from  the 
Schuylkill,  about  two  miles  above  the  city,  where 
the  river  is  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  and 
about  thirty  feet  deep  at  low  water;  it  is  then 
thrown  into  a  capacious  reservoir,  close  by  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  100  feet  above  its  level, 
where  all  the  grosser  particles  gravitate,  before  its 
distribution  by  the  pipes.  No  filtration  takes 
place.  About  700,000  gallons  are  raised  every 
twenty-four  hours.3  In  former  times  the  water 
after  being  raised  from  the  Schuylkill,  was  thrown 
into  a  small  cistern  house  at  the  intersection  of 
Market  Street  and  Broad  Street,  from  which  it 
was  distributed  into  the  various  street  pipes.  This 
cistern  house  is  not  now  in  use,  but  the  building 
remains,  and  is  ornamental  to  the  street ;  it  is  of 
a  circular  form  surmounted  with  a  dome,  and  sur- 
rounded with  gravel  walks  and  trees. 

Among  the  public  institutions  in   Philadelphia 
which  a  stranger  should  visit,   are  the  Penitentiary 

1  Very  considerable  improvements  have  been  recently  made  on  the 
Water  Works.  The  steam  engine  has  been  superseded  by  a  water 
wheel,  15  feet  in  diameter  and  15  feet  wide,  which  makes  11 
revolutions  a  minute,  and  works  a  pump  of  4|  feet  stroke,  dis- 
charging its  contents  22  times  a  minute.  The  quantity  of  water 
raised  in  24  hours  exceeds  one  million  of  gallons.  Other  two 
wheels  of  the  same  size  and  power  will  soon  be  ready  for  opera- 
tion. (1822.) 

4 


PENITENTIARY.  193 

and  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital.  The  first  I  did 
not  see  in  consequence  of  having  postponed  my 
application  till  I  had  but  one  forenoon  at  com- 
mand, and  then  the  hour  of  admission  did  not 
suit  me.  I  was  assured  however,  that  it  was  in 
almost  every  respect  similar  to  that  at  Boston, 
which  has  been  already  described.  One  of  the 
managers  stated  to  me  that  the  defects  of  the  pres- 
ent system  are  so  numerous  and  apparent,  that 
they  intend  to  erect  a  new  prison,  on  a  scale  large 
enough  to  admit  of  almost  every  inmate  being  kept 
in  solitary  confinement.4  The  criminal  code  of 
Pennsylvania  is  merciful  to  a  proverb.  Murder 
*  of  the  first  degree,'  that  is,  when  proved  to  have 
resulted  from  cool  and  deliberate  design,  is  the  only 

4  This  design  has  been  carried  into  effect  since  my  return  home, 
and  an  attentive  correspondent  has  favoured  me  with  the  following 
particulars  of  the  construction  of  the  prison.  The  new  Philadelphia 
Penitentiary  is  surrounded  by  a  strong  wall  30  feet  high,  en- 
closing a  space  of  ground  650  feet  square ;  the  entrance  gate  is 
fortified  with  a  portcullis,  and  on  each  side  are  flanking  towers  con- 
taining the  keeper's  apartments ;  at  the  corners  are  bastions  for 
sentinels.  The  cells  250  in  number  and  one  story  high,  are  disposed 
in  a  circle,  75  feet  from  the  nearest  part  of  die  outer  wall ;  the  open 
ground  at  the  corners  is  planted  with  vegetables.  The  cells  look 
inward  with  an  iron  railing  in  front,  and  a  round  observatory  for 
the  superintendent,  60  feet  in  diameter,  occupies  the  centre  of  the 
ground.  Each  cell  measures  10  feet  by  12,  and  they  are  separated 
from  each  other  by  walls  rising  4>  to  6  feet  above  the  roof,  and 
projecting  20  feet  in  front,  capped  with  stone  and  armed  with  iron 
pikes.  A  common  sewer  passes  under  the  cells.  There  is  no  possi- 
bility of  intercourse  between  the  prisoners,  so  that  the  efficacy  of 
solitary  confinement  will  now  undergo  a  fair  trial.  (1822.) 
VOL.  I.  R 


194  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

capital  crime.  The  Quakers  however,  have  a  rooted 
aversion  to  return  such  a  verdict,  in  any  cir- 
cumstances, and  a  jury  is  so  seldom  altogether 
free  from  this  feeling  that  capital  convictions  are 
exceedingly  rare — it  is  a  common  saying  here,  that 
it  requires  more  interest  to  get  hanged,  than  to  be 
made  Governor  of  the  State. 

Pennsylvania  Hospital  serves  at  once  the 
several  purposes  of  a  Lunatic  Asylum,  Infirmary, 
Lying-in  and  Foundling  hospital.  The  building  is 
large,  and  although  of  brick  not  inelegant ;  it  stands 
in  the  centre  of  one  of  the  square  divisions  formed 
by  the  crossing  of  four  streets,  and  the  whole  of 
the  surrounding  space  is  the  property  of  the  insti- 
tution. In  front  is  a  circular  grass  plot,  in  the 
centre  of  which  is  a  statue  of  William  Penn,  with 
the  *  charter  of  privileges'  in  his  hand — it  strikingly 
resembles  his  portrait  in  West's  well  known  paint- 
ing of  his  treaty  with  the  Indians. 

This  institution  although  partially  charitable  is 
not  altogether  so.  No  patients  are  admitted  gra- 
tuitously, except  those  of  the  poorest  classes ;  all 
others  pay  a  regulated  board,  which  varies  from 
about  1 5s.  to  45s.  sterling  a  week.  There  are 
however  a  number  of  out-door  patients,  who  are 
attended  and  supplied  with  medicines  gratuitously, 
at  their  own  houses.  Clinical  lectures  are 
regularly  delivered  to  students  of  anatomy,  and 
the  fees  are  devoted  to  the  support  of  an  Anatomi- 
cal Museum  and  Library,  to  which  the  students 

1 


PENNSYLVANIA  HOSPITAL PEALE's  MUSEUM.    195 

have  access.  The  museum  contains  many  valuable 
preparations,  models,  casts,  and  drawings ;  the 
library  consists  of  about  three  thousand  volumes, 
and  both  it  and  the  museum  are  rapidly  increasing. 
The  institution  is  now  possessed  of  another  per- 
manent source  of  revenue,  in  West's  splendid  paint- 
ing of  "  Christ  healing  the  sick  in  the  temple," 
presented  by  the  venerable  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  who  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  as  a 
pledge  of  his  regard  for  the  benevolent  institutions 
of  his  native  country.  A  small  building  has  been 
erected  for  exhibiting  this  picture,  and  a  quarter 
of  a  dollar  is  required  for  admission.3 

Peale's  Museum  is  another  object  of  popular  in- 
terest. This  is  a  private  collection,  and  like  many 
similar  establishments,  contains  a  good  deal  that  is 
worth  seeing,  mingled  with  many  miscellaneous 
monstrosities  which  are  not  worth  house-room. 
My  attention  was  chiefly  attracted  by  the  gigantic 
skeleton  of  the  mammoth  or  mastodon. 

A  human  being  shrinks  into  insignificance 
beside  the  bony  fabric  of  this  enormous  ante- 
diluvian ;  for  such  we  may  safely  call  it,  notwith- 
standing of  the  fashionable  scepticism  of  those  who 
are  in  all  things  too  philosophical  to  accept  of  ex- 

'  A  more  recent  traveller  states  that  the  exhibition  of  this  painting 
"  yielded  8000  dollars,  £1800  sterling,  the  first  year,  and  5000 
dollars,  £1125  sterling,  the  second;  and  it  is  supposed  that  it  will 
hereafter  afford  to  the  hospital  an  annual  revenue  of  £500  sterling." 
Howison's  Upper  Canada,  p.  338. 

R2 


196  LETTER  VII. PHILADELPHIA. 

planations  of  natural  phenomena  from  the  sacred 
volume.  It  is  not  a  partial  inundation,  nor  any 
supposable  succession  of  them,  which  could  have 
covered  the  whole  earth,  to  the  tops  of  the  loftiest 
mountains,  with  the  spoils  of  the  sea,  and  with  the 
remains  of  animals,  some  of  them  altogether  un- 
known even  to  historical  tradition,  and  others  in- 
capable now  of  existing  in  the  regions  where  their 
bones  are  found.  The  deluge  is  an  explanation 
of  all  these  wonders,  to  which  the  Christian  will 
devoutly  and  satisfactorily  recur,  leaving  comfort- 
less infidelity  to  its  own  pathless  wanderings. 

The  skeleton  of  the  mammoth  resembles  very 
much  that  of  the  elephant,  carrying  like  it  two  great 
lusks  in  front.  The  principal  difference  is  found 
in  the  grinders ;  which  in  the  elephant  are  flat  on 
the  top,  with  the  enamel  penetrating  the  whole  ma- 
terial, but  in  the  mammoth  rise  into  ridges,  or 
processes  as  anatomists  term  them,  somewhat  as  in 
those  of  the  sheep,  with  the  enamel  in  the  form  of 
an  outer  crust  or  case,  enveloping  but  not  pene- 
trating the  bone.  Some  naturalists  have  supposed 
from  this  peculiarity  that  the  mammoth  was  a  car- 
niverous  animal ;  but  a  scientific  gentleman  re- 
marks to  me  that  this  was  impossible,  as  it  has 
like  the  elephant  no  front  teeth,  and  its  neck  is 
too  short  and  its  tusks  too  long,  to  have  admitted 
of  its  holding  and  devouring  its  prey  as  carnivor- 
ous animals  do.  He  thinks  it  probable  that  it  lived 
upon  shrubs,  and  the  smaller  branches  of  trees, 


SKELETON  OF  THE  MAMMOTH.  197 

for  crushing  which,  the  grinders  seem  to  be  well 
adapted.  It  only  occurs  to  me  in  reply  to  this 
remark,  that  the  enormous  trunk  of  the  mammoth 
may  have  served  to  catch  and  crush  the  smaller 
animals,  and  convey  them  into  the  mouth.  Con- 
jecture however  in  such  cases  is  both  unavailing 
and  unimportant;  it  is  sufficient  that  we  have  in 
the  existence  of  these  bones  unanswerable  demon- 
stration, that  in  earlier  times  an  animal  has  ex- 
isted, much  more  enormous  in  bulk  than  the 
largest  that  is  now  known  to  tread  the  surface  of 
the  globe.  This  skeleton  which  is,  I  believe,  not 
so  large  as  some  others  that  have  been  found,  is  11 
feet  high  over  the  shoulders,  and  measures  31  feet 
from  the  extremity  of  the  tusks  to  the-  end  of  the 
tail,  following  the  curve.6  It  was  found  in  1801,  in 

6  An  attentive  correspondent  has  been  so  kind  as  to  procure  and 
forward  me  the  following  additional  particulars  respecting  the  skele- 
ton of  the  mammoth : 

Feet.  Inch. 

Height  over  the  shoulders,             .         ,         .         .         .  110 

over  the  hips,           ......  90 

Length  from  the  chin  to  the  rump,      .         .         .         .  15     0 
From  the  point  of  the  tusks  to  the  tail,  following  the  curve,  31     0 

The  same  in  a  straight  line,          .         .         .         .         -  176 

Width  of  the  body, 58 

Length  of  the  under  jaw,             .         .         ,         .         .  2  10 

Width  of  the  head,      .                   32 

Length  of  the  thigh  bone,            .....  37 

Smallest  circumference  of  the  same,     ....  16 

Length  of  the  tibia, 20 

Length  of  the  humerus,  or  large  bone  of  the  fore  leg,  2  10 

Largest  circumference  of  the  same,      ...         .         .-  32^ 
R  3                                         Smallest 


198  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

a  mai'l  pit  in  the  State  of  New  York  ;  others  have 
been  found  near  the  licks,  or  salt  springs,  in  the 
State  of  Ohio.  The  skeleton  is  nearly  entire,  ex- 
cept in  the  cartilaginous  parts  which  are  supplied 
by  cork. 

In  contemplating  the  power  of  so  colossal  a 
limb,  and  the  tension  of  the  muscles  which  must 
have  strung  it,  an  impressive  commentary  is  sug- 
gested to  that  singularly  beautiful  passage  in  the 
book  of  Job,  "  Behold  now  Behemoth  which  I 
have  made  with  thee ;  he  eateth  grass  as  an  ox ! 
He  moveth  his  tail  like  a  cedar ;  his  sinews  are 
wrapped  together.  His  bones  are  as  strong  pieces 
of  brass;  his  bones  are  like  bars  of  iron.  Behold 
he  drinketh  up  a  river  and  hasteth  not ;  he  trust- 
eth  that  he  can  draw  up  Jordan  into  his  mouth  !" 
An  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts  was  founded 


Smallest  circumference  of  the  same,     ....  1 

Length  of  the  radius,          ......  2 

Circumference  round  the  elbow,            ....  3 

Length  of  the  scapula  or  shoulder-blade,       ...  3 

Length  of  the  longest  vertebra,            ....  2 

Length  of  the  first  rib,        ......  2 

Length  of  the  longest  rib,  without  cartilage,          .         .  4> 

Length  of  the  breast  bone, 4< 

Length  of  the  great  tusks, 10 

Circumference  of  a  molaris  tooth,         ....  1 

Poundt,     O-. 

Weight  of  the  under  jaw, 63£     0 

of  a  tooth,             *     10 

of  the  whole  skeleton,              ....  1000       0 


ACADEMY  OF  THE  FINE  ARTS.  199 

here  in  1805.  It  was  shortly  after  incorporated 
by  the  legislature,  and  a  building  was  erected  with 
suitable  apartments  for  study  and  exhibition  rooms. 
One  of  the  apartments  contains  a  few  specimens  of 
antique  sculpture,  and  casts  of  most  of  the  celebrated 
statues.  Among  the  modern  specimens  is  a  bust 
of  Washington  by  Canova,  and  one  of  West  by 
Chantrey.  The  painting  room  is  more  richly 
stored,  and  can  boast,  if  the  catalogue  is  correct,  of 
several  paintings  by  the  old  masters ;  among  these 
are  three  by  Titian,  one  by  Raphael,  one  by  Cor- 
reggio,  which  is  said  to  have  been  executed  for 
Charles  III.  of  Spain,  and  was  purchased  for  £340, 
three  by  Rubens,  one  by  Dominichino,  one  by  Te- 
niers,  one  by  Vandyke,  one  by  Paul  Veronese,  one  by 
Rembrandt,  four  by  Murillo,  and  three  by  Salvator 
Rosa.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  old  paintings,  and, 
amongst  a  crowd  of  moderns,  are  some  of  great 
merit  by  native  artists,  the  chief  of  whom  appear 
to  be  Allston  and  Lesslie.  From  Allston's7  pencil, 
is  a  beautiful  picture  of  the  dead  man  raised  to 
life  by  touching  the  bones  of  the  prophet  Elisha ; 

7  A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  claims  on  behalf  of 
his  country  the  honour  of  having  produced  the  first  historical  painter 
of  the  present  day,  and  this  rank  he  assigns  to  Mr.  Allston.  «  The 
modern  school  of  painting,'  says  he,  '  bids  fair  to  flourish  among 
us,  and  that  not  merely  from  nattering  pretty  faces  and  appealing  to 
personal  vanity,  but  in  the  historic  department  of  the  art.  We 
hope  we  do  not  go  out  of  our  way  to  pay  a  compliment  to  our 
fellow  citizen,  who  has  now  founded  upon  a  series  of  works,  that 
have  stood  the  test  of  English  and  of  American  criticism,  the  reputa- 


200  LETTER  VII. PHILADELPHIA. 

and  by  Lesslie  is  a  painting  which  I  thought  ex- 
cellent, exhibiting  William  of  Deloraine  unhorsed 
and  wounded  by  Lord  Cranstoun.  His  goblin 
attendant  has  seated  himself  on  the  warrior's  hel- 
met, and  opened  the  mysterious  book  to  devour 
its  contents,  while  an  airy  phantom,  like  the  spirit 
of  the  storm,  stretching  downwards  behind  him, 
extends  his  arm  to  prostrate  the  over-curious  imp 
by  the  side  of  the  bleeding  mosstrooper. 

Philadelphia  possesses  a  valuable  public  library 
containing  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  volumes, 
and  another  containing  about  four  thousand. 
There  is  also  an  Athenaeum,  although  on  a  much 
smaller  scale  than  that  of  Boston ;  it  is  well  sup- 
plied with  British  periodical  publications,  and  I 
have  spent  several  hours  in  it  very  agreeably,  skim- 
ming the  more  interesting  portions  of  the  recent 
journals. 

In  a  literary  point  of  view  Philadelphia  enjoys  a 
respectable  rank  among  American  cities,  but  as  yet 
Boston  is  far  before  any  other.  I  was  not  a  little 
surprised  to  learn  by  the  '  Picture  of  Philadelphia,' 

tion  of  being  the  first  historical  painter  living.  We  should  be  glad 
to  have  the  work  of  Cammucini  at  Rome,  or  Girard  at  Paris,  or 
David  at  Brussels,  indicated,  that  deserves  to  be  preferred  to  Mr. 
Allston's  Uriel,  Jacob's  vision,  or  Jeremiah.  In  England  certainly, 
he  has  left  behind  him  no  rival  in  this  branch  of  his  art. '  North 
American  Review,  No.  XXX~  p.  181.  This  is  a  matter  respecting 
which  there  will  be  no  doubt  a  difference  of  opinion,  but  if  Mr. 
Allston's  pencil  so  far  surpasses  in  power  those  of  rival  artists,  by 
all  means  let  his  country  and  himself  enjoy  the  honour  of  it. 


PRINTING  OFFICES — COLUMBIAN  PRESS.       201 

that  in  1811  it  contained  fifty-one  printing  offices, 
employing  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  presses,  and 
I  believe  that  since  that  period  the  number  has 
increased.  A  considerable  proportion  of  these 
must  be  supported  by  newspapers,  of  which  there 
are  no  fewer  than  eight  published  daily,  besides 
many  once,  twice,  and  three  times  a  week ;  but  after 
deducting  what  are  necessary  for  these,  there  must 
remain  a  very  respectable  number  devoted  to  liter- 
ature of  a  more  permanent  and  aspiring  kind. 

Philadelphia  has  produced  the  finest  and  most 
accurate  specimens  of  typography  that  have  yet 
appeared  in  America,  and  there  is  a  decided  su- 
periority in  most  of  the  works  printed  here,  to 
those  executed  either  in  Boston  or  New  York. 
There  are  two  letter  foundries,  and  several  printing 
press  makers.  The  Columbian  press,  invented  by 
a  person  of  the  name  of  Clymer  a  native  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, appears  to  be  in  many  respects  very 
superior  to  any  other  that  I  have  yet  seen.8 

Many  periodical  works  have  at  various  times 
been  published  here,  some  of  which  are  still  con- 
tinued ;  and  though  their  success  has  been  in  no  in- 
stance equal  to  that  which  is  at  present  enjoyed  by 

8  Mr.  Clymer  has  subsequently  come  over  to  London,  and  ob- 
tained a  British  patent  for  his  press,  which  has  been  extensively 
adopted  and  is  universally  approved  of.  The  first  of  them  that  came 
to  Scotland  has  now  been  at  work  for  four  years  in  our  office,  where 
we  have  presses  on  six  different  constructions,  but  though  two  or 
three  of  the  kinds  are  excellent,  our  workmen  consider  the  Colum- 
bian as  decidedly  the  best  they  have  ever  pulled.  (1823.) 


202  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

the  North  American  Review,  yet  some  of  them 
exhibit  a  large  proportion  of  respectable  talent.9  For 
reprints  of  the  heavier  British  books,  Philadelphia 
is  quite  famous.  The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica 
was  begun  in  1790,  by  Mr.  Dobson,  an  enterpris- 
ing countryman  of  ours.  When  the  first  half 
volume  was  published,  of  which  1000  were  printed, 
he  had  but  246  subscribers;  they  increased  how- 
ever so  rapidly  that  of  volume  second  2000  were 
thrown  off;  the  first  was  soon  after  reprinted,  and 
in  a  short  time  he  found  it  extremely  difficult  to 
procure  a  sufficient  number  of  printers  and  en- 
gravers, to  carry  forward  the  work  with  sufficient 
rapidity.  Dr.  Rees'  larger  work,  •  and  that  of 
Dr.  Brewster  are  at  present  in  progress.  The 
Edinburgh  and  Quarterly  Reviews  are  regularly 
reprinted  at  New  York ;  and  several  of  our  other 
popular  periodical  works  in  different  parts  of  the 
Union. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  books  are  cheaper 
in  America  than  in  Britain.  The  works  of  our 
modern  authors,  indeed,  which  at  home  are  ex- 
clusive property,  loaded  with  an  enormous  copy 
right,  and  which  we  can  purchase  only  in  the  shape 
of  handsome  octavos  or  more  elegant  quartos,  suf- 
fer here  instantaneous  transmutation  into  an  humble 

9  The  Analectic  Magazine,  published  in  Philadelphia,  was  for  a 
considerable  time  edited  by  the  elegant  author  of  the  Sketch  Book, 
and  Bracebridge  Hall.  Some  of  the  papers  of  the  former  work  were 
first  published  in  the  Analectic. 


LITERATURE ENGRAVING.  203 

duodecimo,  occasionally  of  most  plebeian  aspect, 
and  for  two  dollars  or  less  you  may  obtain  the 
verbal  contents  of  most  of  the  Albemarle  Street 
two  guinea  volumes ;  but  in  all  books  of  which  the 
copy  right  has  expired,  our  British  editions  are 
superior  in  execution  and  accuracy  and  quite  as 
low  in  price,  as  those  which  are  published  in 
America. 

In  historical  engraving  I  have  seen  no  speci- 
mens of  American  art  which  are  very  superior. 
Westall's  illustrations  of  our  modern  poets  have 
nearly  all  been  copied,  but  there  is  a  harshness 
in  the  engraving  which  contrasts  very  disad- 
vantageously  with  the  productions  of  Heath.  In 
the  execution  of  bank  notes,  however,  Philadel- 
phia may  challenge  the  world.  Messrs.  Murray, 
Draper,  Fairm-an,  &  Co.  have  distinguished  them- 
selves by  some  remarkably  ingenious  discoveries, 
which  have  been  applied  with  singular  success  to 
this  branch  of  the  art;  and  their  notes,  which 
you  meet  with  in  every  quarter  of  the  Union,  are 
distinguished  by  an  originality  of  style  and  deli- 
cacy of  execution  which  much  surpass  those  of 
our  native  country,  and  if  they  do  not  afford  a 
perfect  protection  from  forgery,  must  at  least  ren- 
der it  exceedingly  difficult. 10 

10  A  more  minute  account  of  this  inimitable  style  of  engraving 
might  have  been  given,  but  that  its  appearance  is  now  familiar  to  all 
who  take  any  interest  in  such  subjects  ;  and  specimens  from  the 
London  establishment  of  Messrs.  Perkins  and  Heath,  are  to  be  met 


204  LETTER  VII. —  PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia  is  the  seat  of  a  celebrated  College. 
This  institution  was  begun  under  the  auspices  of 
Franklin,  and  was  originally  only  an  academy  and 
charity  school.  Material  alterations  were  made  at 
different  periods  in  its  management  and  regula- 
tions, and  it  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of 
the  State,  first  as  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  and 
afterwards  on  a  more  extended  scale  as  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  Although  respectable  in 
other  departments,  this  seminary  is  most  highly 
celebrated  as  a  medical  school,  in  which  respect 
Philadelphia  is  regarded  as  the  Edinburgh  of  the 
United  States. 

In  a  religious  point  of  view,  Philadelphia  though 
strongly  characterised  by  the  peculiarities  of  its 
quaker  origin,  is  not  so  much  so  as  I  had  previ- 
ously imagined.  The  Friends  are  now  prodigiously 
outnumbered  by  those  of  other  persuasions,  and  I 
believe  that  of  themselves  many  who  retain  the 
name  of  the  sect,  have  laid  aside  some  of  the  pe- 
culiarities by  which  the  more  rigid  are  distinguished. 
This  is  particularly  the  case  with  those  of  younger 
years ; — in  dress  there  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  hesitat- 
ing approximation  to  conformity  with  modern  taste ; 

with  every  day.  Its  value  may  be  appreciated  by  the  fact,  that 
none  have  spoken  so  highly  of  it  as  the  best  engravers  of  our  native 
country.  The  most  curious  and  most  useful  part  of  the  discovery, 
is  that  process  by  which  metal  plates  of  the  same  design  may  be 
multiplied  by  pressure,  to  any  extent,  and  with  as  much  facility  as 
impressions  are  obtained  on  paper  (1823). 


QUAKER  BURYING  GROUND.  205 

and  there  are  some  individuals  to  be  found,  who, 
though  careful  in  writing  to  retain  the  well  known 
formula  in  date,  address,  and  signature,  have  no  ob- 
jections in  conversation  to  concede  the  usual  cour- 
tesies of  polite  intercourse.  Passive  obedience  and 
nonresistance  have  been  generally  esteemed  essen- 
tial to  Quaker  principles ;  but  a  considerable  party 
in  this  city  separated  from  the  main  body,  during 
the  Revolutionary  war,  in  consequence  of  maintain- 
ing the  propriety  of  fighting  for  the  national  inde- 
pendence. They  still  continue  to  be  a  distinct 
class,  justifying  an  appeal  to  the  sword  in  defence 
of  national  rights. 

I  was  conducted  one  afternoon  lately,  by  a 
Friend  of  the  old  school,  to  see  their  principal 
place  of  worship  and  burying  ground.  The  meet- 
ing house  is  large  and  very  plain,  and  is  divided 
into  two  compartments,  one  for  males,  the  other 
for  females.  My  conductor  remarked  that  in  this 
house  met  the  largest  deliberative  society  in  the 
world,  in  which  every  individual  has  a  vote.  This 
is  on  occasion  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Quakers 
in  the  United  States,  when  there  are  generally 
1500  persons  present,  all  of  whom  have  an  equal 
right  of  speech  and  suffrage. 

The  burying  ground,  behind  the  meeting  house, 
is  the  only  one  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  saw. 
The  surface  was  as  level  as  a  bowling  green,  ex- 
cepting a  small  portion  at  one  side  where  a  few 
grassy  hillocks  indicated  the  mansions  of  the  dead 

VOL.  i.  s 


206  LETTER    VII. PHILADELPHIA. 

My  conductor  remarked  that  the  Friends  had  buried 
in  that  ground  since  the  days  of  Penn.  The  re- 
surrection of  the  body,  he  said,  formed  no  part  of 
their  religious  belief,  and  they  considered  it  impro- 
per to  erect  any  memorial  over  the  departed,  as  if 
any  part  of  the  man  were  buried,  or  to  preserve 
a  distinction  between  the  graves  of  one  family  and 
those  of  another.  In  accordance  with  these  senti- 
ments, they  begin  to  inter  at  one  corner  of  the  en- 
closure; and  go  regularly  on,  digging  one  grave  by 
the  side  of  the  preceding  one,  till  the  whole  ground 
has  been  gone  over.  The  surface  is  then  complete- 
ly levelled,  and  a  new  series  of  sepulchres  begun. 

All  this  was  new  to  me,  and  somewhat  revolting. 
That  the  society  of  Friends  denied  the  resurrec- 
tion  of  the    body,    I    did   not    previously   know. 
Neither  was  I  aware  that  they  set  themselves  to 
eradicate  that  principle  in  our  hearts,  which  leads 
us  to  cling  in  fondness  to  the  remains  of  the  de- 
parted object  of  our  affections,  and  to  hallow  the 
spot  where  the  beloved  dust  reposes.  This  is  far  too 
philosophical  for  me,  and  I  cannot  help  thinking 
offers  violence  to  one  of  the  purest,  kindliest  sym- 
pathies of  the  human  heart.     It  is  well  to  discoun- 
tenance the  laboured,  and  very  frequently  fabulous 
eulogies,  with  which  tomb-stones  are  so  profusely 
bedaubed ;    but    to   plough    down   the   field,    and 
leave    it    like   the    sand  on  the  sea-shore    devoid 
of  trace  or  memorial — to  put  it  out  of  my  power 
to  say  c  my  friend  lies  thei'e,'  is  to  lacerate  feelings 


QUAKER  MEETING  HOUSE.  207 

which  have  been  cherished  and  honoured  in  all 
ages,  by  all,  even  the  best  of  men.  "  Where  thou 
diest,  I  will  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried  !" 
"  Why  trouble  ye  the  woman?"* said  the  blessed 
Jesus,  "  she  hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon  me  ; 
for  in  that  she  hath  poured  this  ointment  on  my 
body,  she  did  it  for  my  burial."  What  can  suggest 
a  more  exquisitely  touching  picture  of  a  bleeding 
heart,  than  these  affecting  words,  "  She  is  gone  to 
the  grave  to  weep  there !"  All  this  must  be  un- 
intelligible to  a  Quaker,  if  he  is  really  consistent  in 
his  professed  belief. 

I  attended  at  the  meeting  house  one  sabbath  af- 
ternoon, to  see  their  mode  of  worship;  the  only 
occasion  on  which  1  ever  did  so.  The  meeting 
did  not  continue  longer  than  an  hour,  and  the 
worship  was  certainly  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
word  intellectual,  for  not  an  individual  opened  his 
mouth.  Some  wore  their  hats,  others  put  them 
off,  and  the  aspect  of  many  by  no  means  betoken- 
ed any  great  degree  of  mental  abstraction. 

Of  the  principles  of  the  majority  of  the  sect,  I 
have  been  able  to  learn  very  little ;  indeed  it  would 
not  be  easy  to  ascertain  exactly  their  confession  of 
faith.  I  have  met  with  individuals  who  maintained 
very  decidedly  the  essential  doctrines  of  evangeli- 
cal religion,  but  I  also  found  others  whose  senti- 
ments seemed  to  approach  very  nearly  to  infidelity. 
Their  almost  total  neglect  of  public  instruction 
must  necessarily  occasion,  among  those  who  think 
S2 


208  LETTER  VII. —  PHILADELPHIA. 

at  all,  a  great  diversity  of  sentiment  upon  specula- 
tive subjects.  Their  benevolence  and  philanthropy, 
however,  are  as  conspicuous  here  as  every  where 
else ;  the  early  and  most  successful  managers  of  the 
Penitentiary  were  principally  Quakers,  and  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  same  body  was  pointed  out  to  me, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  managers  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital.  The  whole  civilized  world 
owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Quakers,  for  their 
long  and  unwearied  labours  in  the  cause  of  general 
philanthropy ; — and  if  slavery  is  to  be  abolished  in 
this  country,  it  will  probably  be  effected  through 
their  instrumentality. 

There  are  altogether  nearly  sixty  places  of  wor- 
ship n  in  Philadelphia ;  including  most  of  the  usual 
denominations,  with  some  of  German  origin 
unknown  in  Scotland.  During  the  few  sabbaths 


11  An  attentive  correspondent,  whose  kindness  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  acknowledge,  has  transmitted  the  following  enumeration 
of  the  churches  and  chapels  in  Philadelphia,  as  they  stood  in  June 
1822.  12  Presbyterian,  under  the  General  Assembly,  including 
one  for  Africans,  and  one  building ; — 1 1  Methodist,  including  four 
for  Africans ; — 9  Episcopalian,  including  one  for  Africans,  and  two 
building  ; — 6  Baptist,  including  one  for  Africans  ; — 5  Quakers,  in- 
cluding one  of  Free  Quakers,  and  one  building ; — 4-  Romish ; — 2 
Reformed  Dutch; — 2  German  Calvinists,  in  one  of  which  service 
is  conducted  in  the  German  language  ; — 2  German  Lutherans,  one 
also  adhering  to  the  vernacular  tongue ; — 1  Associate  Reformed  ; — 
1  Reformed  Presbyterian,  or  Covenanters ; — 1  Swedish  Lutheran ; — 
1  Moravian  ;— 2  Universalist,  including  one  building ; — 1  Socin- 
ian  ; — 1  New  Jerusalem  ; — and  2  Jewish  Synagogues.  Total  63,  in- 
cluding five  building. 


SERMONS.  209 

which  I  have  spent  here,  I  can  of  course  have  heard 
but  a  small  number  of  their  preachers  and  shall 
be  brief  in  my  account  of  them. 

In  one  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  I  have 
been  four  times  present.  The  clergyman  who  offi- 
ciates here  is  rather  advanced  in  life,  of  a  sedate 
and  intelligent  countenance,  and  a  spare  habit  of 
body.  He  possesses  a  considerable  command  of 
language,  and  in  prayer  much  felicity  of  expres- 
sion ;  he  has  scarcely  any  action,  his  voice  is  rather 
weak  and  his  enunciation  slow,  yet  earnest  and 
impressive.  He  exhibits  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  Bible,  a  strong  conviction  of  the  impor- 
tance of  its  truths,  and  a  lively  desire  to  impart  in- 
struction. On  one  of  the  occasions  referred  to, 
he  lectured  on  the  concluding  verses  of  the  ninth 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  by  John,  in  connexion  with 
the  commencement  of  the  tenth,  and  stated  with 
much  simplicity  the  grand  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment. At  another  time  he  delivered  a  very  judi- 
cious discourse  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  continued  the  illustration  of  the  same  subject, 
in  the  form  of  a  lecture  on  the  parable  of  the  sower, 
as  recorded  by  Mark.  From  the  parable  of  the 
mustard  seed,  he  discoursed  on  the  progress  of  the 
gospel  in  heathen  countries,  and  the  approach  of 
that  time,  when  '  incense  and  a  pure  offering,' 
should  be  offered  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  from  the  ris- 
ing to  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

In    the    Associate    Reformed,    or   Antiburgher 
S3 


210  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

church,  I  heard  an  old  fashioned  but  very  good 
sermon,  from  one  of  our  own  countrymen.  The 
service  on  this  occasion,  carried  me  in  mind  com- 
pletely across  the  Atlantic.  We  had  a  Scotish 
minister,  a  Scotish  precentor,12  and  a  Scotish  con- 
gregation; the  discourse  was  delivered  with  a 
strong  national  accent,  the  psalms  were  of  the  ver- 
sion which  is  in  common  use  at  home,  and  were 
sung  to  some  of  our  welt  known  old  fashioned 
tunes.  Such  a  combination  of  circumstances,  brings 
the  recollections  of  l  auld  lang  syne'  into  power- 
ful excitement;  and  the  wandering  Caledonian 
who  could  be  present  without  a  glow  of  kindly  feel- 
ing to  the  whole  assembly,  must  be  fashioned  of 
most  unusual  materials. 

At  a  Baptist  congregation  I  heard  a  discourse 
from  a  young  divine,  who  there  was  much  reason  to 
fear  had  made  a  very  unsuitable  choice  of  a  pro- 
fession. He  was  however  only  a  temporary  oc- 
cupant of  the  pulpit.  The  regular  pastor,  whom 
I  afterwards  heard,  is  a  man  of  good  talents  and  so 
far  as  I  could  judge  correct  doctrinal  sentiments, 
but  there  was  a  degree  of  mannerism  in  his  reading 
and  speaking,  which  strongly  recalled  certain  lines 
of  Cowpei-'s  which  I  shall  forbear  to  quote.  I 
heard  him  lecture  on  the  first  and  second  chapters 
of  Ezra,  when  he  illustrated  the  historical  narra- 
tive in  a  very  instructive  manner ;  he  afterwards 

"  Anglke,  Clerk. 


SABBATH  SCHOOLS.  211 

expounded  with  great  success  those  most  important 
words,  *  If  ye  believe  not  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die 
in  your  sins.'  I  wished  very  much  to  have  heard 
one  of  the  African  preachers  who  is  highly  spoken 
of,  but  for  want  of  a  proper  guide  I  failed  in  my 
attempt  to  find  his  church. 

I  have  visited  two  Sabbath  schools  in  Philadel- 
phia. One  of  these  meets  between  sermons,  and  is 
devoted  to  instruction  in  reading.  The  other  as- 
sembles in  the  evening,  and  is  devoted  entirely  to 
religious  instruction.  In  the  course  of  my  wander- 
ings in  the  United  States,  I  met  with  no  Sabbath 
school  excepting  this  and  the  one  at  New  Haven 
which  at  all  resembled  the  Scotish  ones.  The 
scholars  in  this  are  chiefly  of  females;  they  are 
divided  into  several  classes,  two  of  which  are  taught 
by  ladies,  and  the  others  by  young  men.  The  prin- 
cipal deficiency  that  I  observed  in  the  management 
was  the  allowing  each  scholar  to  please  herself, 
both  as  to  the  passage  which  she  prepared,  and  as 
to  the  length  of  it.  Experience  proves  that  this 
system  is  essentially  prejudicial  to  the  improvement 
of  the  scholars,  who  should  all  have  a  prescribed 
exercise,  and  so  far  as  possible  the  same  one.  A 
considerable  degree  of  attention  and  diligence  was 
apparent  among  the  scholars;  though  as  in  all 
American  schools,  rather  more  latitude  of  speech 
and  behaviour  prevailed  among  them  than  is  alto- 
gether beneficial. 

Philadelphia   I   should  be  inclined  to  think,  is 


212  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

scarcely  so  cheerful  a  place  of  residence  as  New 
York.  Whether  I  may  have  been  led  to  this 
opinion  from  having  spent  a  shorter  time  in  it,  or 
from  the  greater  prevalence  of  Quaker  manners, 
or  from  some  other  accidental  cause,  I  shall  not 
pretend  to  determine.  The  surrounding  country 
is  very  beautiful,  and  there  are  many  pleasant  villas 
and  flourishing  little  towns  upon  the  banks  of  both 
rivers. 

At  Bordentown,  twenty-six  miles  above  the  city 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Delaware,  is  the  seat  of 
the  ex-King  of  Spain,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  who  has 
assumed  the  title  of  Count  de  Survilliers.  I  saw 
his  house,13  as  the  steam  boat  passed  down  the 
river,  rising  on  the  brow  of  a  hill  surrounded  on 
all  sides  with  a  dense  forest  of  pines.  The  view 


13  This  house  has  since  I  left  America  fallen  a  prey  to  fire,  and 
some  valuable  pictures  and  statues  perished  in  the  flames.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  neighbouring  village  having  been  very  active  in  at- 
tempting to  save  the  costly  furniture,  die  Count  shortly  after  addressed 
a  letter  of  thanks  to  them  through  the  newspapers.  The  ex- King 
however  was  in  novel  circumstances  in  addressing  his  republican 
neighbours,  and  his  letter  as  might  have  been  expected,  partook 
more  of  the  gracious  style  of  the  sovereign  than  the  grateful  tone  of 
the  citizen.  He  assured  them  with. some  degree  of  pomposity  that  he- 
regarded  the  scupulous  honesty  and  undaunted  courage  which  had 
characterized  their  exertions,  as  proofs  that  the  inhabitants  of  Borden- 
town '  properly  appreciated  the  interest  which  lie  had  always  felt 
for  them. '  A  somewhat  saucy  reply  speedily  appeared  in  which  the 
Count  was  informed  that  they  held  his  benignant  smiles  very  cheap, 
and  that  in  giving  him  their  assistance  during  the  fire,  they  were 
actuated  by  the  common  impulses  of  humanity  and  nothing  more. 


JOSEPH  BONAPARTE — MOREAU — VANDAMME.     213 

from  the  windows  must  be  very  commanding,  and 
as  he  surveys  it,  what  a  contrast  of  ideas  must 
crowd  upon  his  mind  !  Paris  —  Madrid  —  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware ; — the  brother  of  Napoleon — 
the  King  of  Spain — the  obscure  American  re- 
cluse !  How  singularly  happy  may  be  the  evening 
of  his  eventful  life,  if  in  the  stillness  of  this  retire- 
ment, he  should  be  led  rightly  to  meditate  on  that 
futurity  where  an  existence  awaits  him  more  glori- 
ous or  more  dreadful  than  all  that  he  has  yet  known. 
At  Trenton,  four  miles  above  Bordentown,  was 
the  seat  of  General  Moreau,  while  in  this  country. 
His  stables  are  seen  close  by  the  road.  On  the 
banks  of  the  Schuylkill  General  Vandamme,  an- 
other conspicuous  name  in  the  annals  of  recent 
events,  has  a  verv  fine  villa.  He  has  had  the 

v 

good  sense  to  withdraw  from  European  broils,  but 
if  one  half  of  what  has  been  told  of  him  be  true, 
he  merited  a  very  different  termination  to  his 
history. 

There  are  several  very  large  Avooden  bridges 
across  the  Schuylkill,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Phi- 
ladelphia. Most  of  them  have  three  arches,  but 
near  the  water  works  there  is  one  of  a  single  arch, 
340  feet  9  inches  in  span.  The  river  is  here 
forty  feet  deep,  and  the  sinking  of  piers  would 
have  been  a  hopeless  undertaking.  This  bridge, 
like  most  others  in  this  country,  is  roofed  over  and 
closed  in  at  the  sides,  with  small  openings  like  win- 
dows for  the  admission  of  light.  The  roof  is  use- 


214  LETTER  VII. — PHILADELPHIA. 

ful  not  only  in  preserving  the  bridge  from  the 
influence  of  the  weather,  but  also  in  compact- 
ing the  fabric,  but  it  gives  the  bridge  a  heavy 
look  without  and  a  gloomy  appearance  within. 
These  roofed  bridges  exhibit  a  style  of  architecture 
which  is  unknown  in  our  native  country.  Over- 
head a  massy  frame  work  binds  the  whole  edifice 
together ;  sometimes  immense  hoops  bending  from 
beam  to  beam  suspend  the  various  arches,  each  hoop 
composed  of  six  or  eight  enormous  planks  laid  sur- 
face to  surface  and  bound  together  by  iron  bolts  ; 
in  others  the  floor  is  suspended  by  massy  chains  or 
iron  rods,  descending  from  upright  beams.  Strong 
however  as  these  bridges  appear  to  be,  the  au- 
tumnal floods  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  in 
spring  are  frequently  fatal  to  them ;  in  the  month 
of  May  last  1  was  ferried  across  two  rivers,  close 
by  the  ruins  of  extensive  bridges  which  had  been 
recently  swept  away. 

Two  unsuccessful  attempts  have  been  made  by 
the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  to  cut  a  canal  between 
the  Schuylkill  and  the  Susquehanna;  with  the  in- 
tention of  gradually  completing  a  water  communi- 
cation between  the  Delaware  and  the  great  western 
lakes.  In  these  abortive  efforts  upwards  of  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  have  been  fruitlessly 
expended.  The  failure  however  seems  to  have 
arisen  rather  from  mismanagement,  than  from  any 
impracticability  in  the  scheme.  The  example  of 
New  York  has  given  a  new  stimulus  to  ranal  enter- 


PROJECTED  IMPROVEMENTS.        215 

prize,  and  probably  future  travellers  may  have  to 
commemorate  that  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  has 
been  equally  successful.  Baltimore  has  good  reason 
to  deprecate  such  a  result,  as  it  would  most  pro- 
bably divert  to  the  Delaware  much  of  the  inland 
and  foreign  trade  which  at  present  flows  into  the 
Chesapeake. 


LETTER   VIII. 

BALTIMORE — STREETS  AND   PUBLIC   BUILDINGS — ROMISH    CATHE- 
DRAL   SOCINIAN     CHAPEL WASHINGTON'S     MONUMENT  

BATTLE  MONUMENT  FORT  MCHENDRY BOMBARDMENT 

FELL'S  POINT — PRIVATEER  SCHOONERS — DEATH  OF  GENERAL 

ROSS MILITARY  REVIEW EXECUTION  PENITENTIARY  

HOSPITAL — COLLEGES LANCASTERIAN   SCHOOL FLOUR  MILL 

REPUBLICAN  CONTEST   FOE    SHERIFFALTY CHURCHES 

SERMONS SABBATH  SCHOOLS HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  INHABI- 
TANTS. 

Baltimore,  September,  1818. 

BALTIMORE  is  built  at  the  top  of  a  small  bay  in 
the  river  Patapsco,  near  its  entrance  into  the 
Chesapeake,  and  consists  of  two  portions,  nearly 
a  mile  asunder;  the  upper  of  which  is  properly 
speaking  the  town,  and  the  lower  called  Fell's 
Point  is  the  harbour.  The  water  comes  up  to 
the  town  but  it  is  shallow  and  in  general  none 
but  coasters  go  past  the  Point.  The  bay  is  formed 
and  protected  by  a  peninsular  tongue  of  land 
which  stretches  downwards  into  the  river;  the 
entrance  is  narrow  and  is  completely  commanded 
by  a  fort,  which  sustained  a  heavy  bombardment 
during  last  war. 

The  town  is  built  with  considerable  regularity, 
upon  portions  of  three  hills  and  their  intervening 
T2 


220  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

valleys ;  many  of  the  streets  cross  each  other  at  right 
angles,  and  they  are  in  general  spacious  and  well 
paved.  A  large  proportion  of  the  buildings  are  of 
brick ;  the  more  ancient,  in  consequence  of  inatten- 
tion to  painting,  have  rather  a  gloomy  aspect,  but 
the  modern  ones  resemble  in  every  respect  those 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

In  public  buildings  Baltimore  aspires  to  dis- 
tinction, but  some  of  the  most  considerable  are  as 
yet  only  in  progress.  A  massy  brick  edifice 
which  is  intended  for  an  Exchange  has  been 
roofed  in ;  externally  it  is  remarkable  for  dimen- 
sions rather  than  elegance,  and  of  its  internal 
appearance  I  can  say  nothing.  Two  new  churches 
are  going  forward,  the  one  destined  to  be  a  Romish 
Cathedral  the  other  a  Socinian  Chapel.  They 
stand  very  near  each  other,  rather  above  the  city, 
and  as  yet  a  considerable  space  is  open  around 
them.  The  style  of  the  respective  buildings  strikes 
me  as  somewhat  appropriate  to  the  system  which 
it  has  been  erected  to  support. 

The  Cathedral  is  built  of  dark  coloured  stone 
in  the  form  of  a  cross,  with  a  dome  over  the  centre, 
but  the  length  is  not  nearly  so  great  as  in  our 
ancient  churches ;  the  walls  and  roof  are  finished 
and  a  shoal  of  Irish  labourers  are  busied  on  the 
interior.  It  is  rather  singular  that  they  have  not 
attempted  the  Gothic  in  this  building;  probably 
the  great  expense  of  that  style  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  the  Roman  Done  being  preferred.  The 


PUBLIC    BUILDINGS.  221 

principal  entrances  are  arched,  and  a  few  pilasters 
carried  round  the  walls  are  its  principal  ornament ; 
the  size  and  disposition  of  the  windows,  with  the 
crossing  of  the  transept,  have  been  so  managed  as 
to  throw  into  the  body  of  the  church  a  strong 
depth  of  shadow,  the  holy  gloom  of  which  will 
doubtless  be  esteemed  highly  conducive  to  genuine 
religious  emotion,  and  which  at  least  we  must 
grant  to  be  no  way  inappropriate  in  that  ritual,  of 
which  the  burning  of  candles  forms  so  important 
a  portion. 

The  Socinian  Chapel,  a  more  lightsome  and 
tasteful  fabric,  is  nearly  finished,  and  although 
not  a  large  building  is  said  to  have  cost  upwards 
of  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling.  In  front  is 
an  arched  portico,  and  in  the  tympanum  of  the 
pediment  is  a  stucco  angel  descending  from  a  cloud ; 
the  walls  are  covered  externally  with  composition, 
lined  and  painted  to  resemble  stone.  The  interior 
is  profusely  decorated.  The  pulpit  is  of  polished 
marble  of  various  colours,  with  a  baptismal  font  be- 
fore it  of  the  same  material;  upon  the  wall  behind 
are  two  white  marble  slabs,  resembling  the  tables  of 
the  Law  in  the  ancient  pictures  of  Moses,  upon 
which  are  inscribed  a  few  texts  of  Scripture.1  The 

1  I  noted  these  passages  in  my  memorandum  book  and  subjoin 
them  for  the  gratification  of  enquirers.  The  one  table  bore  in  full 
length  1  Tim.  i.  17.  Phil.  iv.  6.  Mark  xii.  29.  Matth.  v.  1C. 
2  Tim.  ii.  19: — the  other  John  xvii.  3.  Matth.  vii.  12.  Heb.  xii.  1,  2. 
and  xi.  11. 

T3 


222  LETTER  vin. — BALTIMORE. 

ends  of  the  pews  are  beautifully  carved  and  bronzed 
in  imitation  of  the  antique.  The  ceiling  is  covered 
with  rich  stuccoed  work,  and  in  the  gallery  is  a 
large  organ  the  front  of  which  is  very  tastefully 
finished  in  the  form  of  the  ancient  lyre.  The 
effect  of  the  whole  is  certainly  very  splendid ;  but 
the  more  splendid  it  is,  the  more  must  we  regret 
the  purpose  for  which  so  costly  an  edifice  has  been 
erected. 

Two  public  monuments  have  been  recently 
begun ;  the  one  to  Washington,  the  other  to 
commemorate  the  attack  on  the  city  during  last 
war,  and  to  record  the  names  of  those  who  fell  in 
its  defence.  Washington's  monument  occupies 
the  front  of  a  rising  ground  a  little  above 
the  city ;  the  other  the  centre  of  a  square  with- 
in it. 

The  name  and  the  deeds  of  Washington  stand 
so  conspicuously  pre-eminent  in  the  history  of  this 
nation,  that  to  rear  a  suitable  monument  to  his 
fame  must  be  a  matter  of  no  trifling  difficulty. 
The  structure  must  be  magnificent  and  durable, 
above  all  ordinary  edifices,  which  aspires  to  out- 
shine or  outlast  the  splendour  of  his  name.  Pro- 
bably this  is  one  reason  why  no  national  monument 
has  hitherto  been  erected  to  the  Father  of  American 
liberty.  The  Baltimore  one  is  the  first  of  an 
architectural  kind  that  has  been  attempted.  Two 
statues  however  are  in  progress ;  one  by  Can  ova 
to  be  placed  in  the  State  House  of  Raleigh,  the 

8 


MONUMENT  TO  WASHINGTON.  223 

capital  of  North   Carolina,  the  other  by  Chantrey 
for  the  town  of  Boston.2 

The  Baltimore  monument  is  a  plain  column 
.rising  from  a  square  base,  to  be  surmounted  by 
a  colossal  statue  by  some  artist  whose  name  I  have 
not  heard.  The  work  has  advanced  as  yet  but  a 
short  way,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  form  a  correct 
idea  of  the  ultimate  effect ;  the  situation  however 
is  commanding  and  it  must  eventually  form  a  con- 
spicuous object  in  the  distant  prospect.  The 
fabric  is  brick  within,  and  white  marble  with- 
out, with  a  spiral  staircase  in  the  centre.  No 
loop  holes  have  been  left  for  the  admission  of 
light;  the  stair  is  consequently  very  dark,  and 
when  the  column  attains  to  its  full  height  will 
be  somewhat  disagreeable  to  ascend. 

8  A  writer  in  die  North  American  Review  thus  writes  with  regard 
to  these  rival  statues  and  their  sculptors.  "  With  respect  to  this 
statue,  the  only  work  of  Canova,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  which  our 
country  can  boast,  if  indeed  it  has  already  reached  Raleigh,  we  can 
speak  only  of  the  model  in  clay.  The  likeness  is  certainly  not 
strong,  and  the  artist  complained  of  the  want  of  materials  to  deduce 
it  from  ;  a  circumstance  the  more  to  he  regretted,  as  no  countenance 
is  hetter  ascertained  than  Washington's,  and  if  materials  were  not 
put  into  his  hands,  it  could  not  be  because  they  do  not  exist.  We 
apprehend,  moreover,  that  the  costume  of  the  statue  will  not  suit  the 
American  taste.  Gen.  Washington  is  represented  sitting,  with  a 
tablet  supported  by  his  left  hand,  on  which  he  is  about  to  write  the 
constitution  of  America,  with  a  style  which  he  holds  in  his  right. 
Though  thus  occupied  as  a  civil  legislator,  he  is  clad  in  the  Roman 
military  dress  with  the  brazen  cuirass,  half  of  the  thigh,  the  knees 
and  legs  bare,  and  military  sandals.  It  seems  to  us  that  this  dress  is 
in  itself  unbecoming,  besides  being  inconsistent  with  the  legislative  or 


224  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

The  Battle  Monument  is  also  of  white  marble, 
but  much  smaller.  It  consists  of  a  reeded  column 
with  a  crossed  fillet  at  the  top  and  bottom,  erected 
upon  a  square  base  tapering  in  the  Egyptian  style 
and  rusticated.  The  shaft  is  not  unlike  the  Roman 
fasces,  without  the  axe ;  one  side  of  the  base  ex- 
hibits a  door,  which  in  a  very  hot  day  suggests 
the  luxurious  idea  of  an  ice  house ;  the  other 
sides  contain  slabs  on  which  are  to  be  inscribed 
the  names  of  all  those  who  fell  in  defence  of 
their  « altars  and  hearths,'  as  the  helmets  of  our 
yeomanry  express  it.  The  operations  on  this 
erection  are  for  the  present  suspended;  the  base 
has  been  built,  and  the  materials  for  the  column  lie 
scattered  around  it,  but  the  carved  blocks  are  still 
in  the  packing  frames  in  which  they  were  brought 

civil  occupation  represented.  The  only  costume  that  we  can  imagine 
less  becoming  than  the  ancient  military  dress,  is  the  modern  military 
dress,  the  hussar  boots,  faced  coat,  and  hair  clubbed  up  with  poma- 
tum, in  which  we  understand  Mr.  Chantrey  will  dress  Gen.  Wash- 
ington in  the  statue  designed  for  Boston,  according  to  the  theory  of 
the  English  School,  which  enjoins  the  closest  possible  imitation  of 
nature,  and  adherence  to  historical  truth.  Neither  of  these  principles 
is  just  in  the  art.  Nature  is  to  be  imitated,  only  in  her  noble,  select, 
and  pleasing  parts,  and  historical  truth  adhered  to  no  further  than  it 
adds  to  the  beauty,  grandeur,  and  charm  of  the  work  ;  provided  that 
die  deviation  be  not  such  as  to  shock  our  judgments.  Look  at  the 
statue  of  the  Queen  before  St.  Paul's  in  her  hoop  and  toupet.  We 
would  have  had  Gen.  Washington's  statue  in  the  true  classical  dress, 
the  ancient  civil  senatorial  robe,  call  it  Roman  or  Greek,  alike  re- 
moved from  the  indelicate  bareness  of  the  Roman  armour,  and  the 
fantastical  cuts  and  folds  of  our  modern  tailoring."  Worth  American 
Review,  No.  XXVII.  p.  385. 


BATTLE  MONUMENT FORT  M'HENDRY.       225 

from  Italy.  In  architectural  design  this  monu- 
ment is  so  perfectly  anomalous  that  we  cannot  but 
regret  its  premature  erection ;  in  a  few  years,  pro- 
bably, the  citizens  will  learn  to  regard  it  with  the 
same  feelings  which  are  now  excited  by  the 
Edinburgh  monument  to  Nelson.  Its  situation 
however  is  well  chosen,  the  material  is  beautiful, 
and  so  far  as  these  go  even  strangers  will  regard 
it  as  an  ornament  to  the  city.  The  event  which 
it  commemorates  will  always  secure  it  the  affec- 
tions of  the  natives. 

Fort  M'Hendry  at  the  end  of  the  peninsula 
saved  the  town  from  capture  during  last  war,  al- 
though it  was  then  but  ill  prepared  for  an  attack; 
the  batteries  were  in  a  poor  condition,  it  had  no  co- 
vered ways,  and  the  magazine  was  not  bomb-proof. 
A  shell  struck  the  corner  of  the  magazine  in  a  slant- 
ing direction,  and  shattered  the  wall ;  had  it  pene- 
trated, the  capture  of  the  fort  would  have  been 
inevitable.  Since  that  period  the  works  have  been 
greatly  strengthened,  and  bomb-proof  barracks, 
covered  ways,  and  magazines,  have  all  been  erected. 
The  fortification  is  of  a  pentagonal  form,  and  con- 
sists of  an  inner  and  outer  line  of  batteries.  The 
inner  line  is  of  brick  and  is  mounted  with  the 
lighter  guns ;  the  outer  breastwork  is  of  turf  and 
the  guns  are  of  a  large  size.  Between  the  lines 
are  furnaces  for  heating  shot.  The  old  walls  still 
exhibit  the  scars  of  the  attack,  and  several  deep 


226  LETTER  VIII. BALTIMORE. 

hollows  in  the  ground  show  where  shells  had 
buried  themselves. 

Behind  the  principal  fort  are  two  small  batteries 
at  a  short  distance  from  each  other.  The  British 
squadron  sent  out  a  detachment  of  boats  during 
the  night,  hoping  to  effect  a  landing  behind  Fort 
M'Hendry,  which  they  succeeded  in  passing  un- 
observed ;  not  aware  that  there  were  other  batteries 
beyond  it,  the,  sailors  set  up  a  premature  shout 
of  triumph,  which  immediately  brought  down  upon 
them  an  unexpected  cannonade ;  several  of  the 
boats  were  sunk  and  the  rest  compelled  to  return. 

Fell's  Point  is  like  other  sea  ports  somewhat 
dirty ;  and  the  yellow  fever  when  it  was  prevalent, 
committed  great  ravages  here,  while  Baltimore  was 
comparatively  healthy.  In  the  harbour  at  present 
is  a  beautiful  -sharp  built  schooner,  evidently  in- 
tended for  warlike  purposes,  and  pretty  well  known 
to  be  fitted  out  for  the  coast  of  South  America ; 
she  will  carry  about  a  dozen  of  guns.  The  Balti- 
more ship  builders  particularly  excel  in  the  con- 
struction of  such  vessels,  and  it  was  their  astonish- 
ing fleetness  of  sailing  which  enabled  the  privateers 
to  pick  up  so  many  of  our  merchantmen  during 
last  war.  They  are  very  low  in  the  water,  and 
broad  in  the  beam ;  the  masts  are  sloped  very 
much  backwards,  and  they  sail  exceedingly  close 
to  the  wind.  Very  few  of  them  were  captured  by 
our  cruisers,  and  those  generally  in  consequence 
of  some  accident.  Two  instances  of  this  kind  I 


FELL'S  POINT — PRIVATEERS.  227 

have  heard  of.  A  very  fine  privateer  brig  of  this 
description  left  New  York  on  her  first  cruize,  the 
weather  was  very  foggy,  and  at  no  great  distance 
from  Sandy  Hook  she  descried  a  pretty  large  vessel 
which  she  supposed  was  a  merchantman;  she  of 
course  ran  down  upon  it  with  all  speed,  but  dis- 
covered when  it  was  too  late  that  the  anticipated 
prize  was  a  British  seventy-four  gun  ship : — the 
crew  were  constrained  to  surrender  without  firing 
a  gun.  Another  privateer  of  a  similar  description, 
happened  to  fall  in  at  sea  with  one  of  our  large 
frigates ;  trusting  to  her  superiority  of  sailing  she 
made  no  haste  to  get  out  of  the  way,  but  tacked 
about  till  the  frigate  had  got  nearly  within  gun 
shot,  when  she  stretched  upon  the  wind  and  bore 
off.  Out  of  the  frigate's  reach  she  again  lay  to, 
awaiting  her  pursuit;  at  that  critical  moment  the 
wind  which  had  hitherto  blown  pretty  fresh  died 
suddenly  away,  and  her  sails  flapped  against  the 
masts,  the  frigate's  boats  were  instantly  manned, 
the  privateer  lay  in  helpless  inactivity  on  the  water, 
resistance  was  in  vain,  and  the  fable  of  the  hare 
and  the  tortoise  was  again  realized. 

The  harbour  of  Baltimore  presents  I  understand 
but  a  very  dull  scene  now  to  what  it  once  did.  Dur- 
ing the  European  continental  war,  when  America 
engrossed  the  carrying  trade  of  nearly  the  whole 
world,  a  flourishing  commerce  crowded  the  har- 
bour with  vessels,  and  the  custom-house  with  busi- 
ness ;  but  Mr.  Madison's  proclamation  of  war  was 


228  LETTER  VIII. BALTIMORE. 

the  signal  for  its  ruin,  and  the  termination  of 
hostilities  in  Europe  having  left  other  nations  at 
liberty  to  claim  their  share  in  the  interchange  of 
commodities,  the  quays  are  now  half  deserted,  and 
the  store-houses  comparatively  empty.  As  the 
United  States  however  recover  from  their  present 
mercantile  difficulties,  and  as  the  back  country 
becomes  more  thickly  settled,  the  increasing  de- 
mand for  foreign  produce  and  manufactures  must 
by  degrees  bring  back  the  good  old  times,  when 
Fell's  Point  was  crowded  with  merchantmen,  and 
the  storekeepers  of  Baltimore  exulted  in  the  di- 
mensions of  their  ledgers. 

Eastward  from  the  town  is  yet  to  be  seen  the 
breastwork  of  turf  which  was  hastily  thrown  up 
when  General  Ross  landed  to  attack  it.  The  rifle 
of  some  expert  marksman  was  the  means  of  saving 
Baltimore  on  this  occasion.  It  might  seem  that 
an  individual  bullet  could  be  of  but  little  avail  as 
to  the  result  of  a  battle — it  can  kill  but  a  man ; 
but  when  that  man  is  a  commanding  officer,  and 
such  an  officer  as  Ross,  the  bullet  that  kills  him  is 
decisive  of  the  day.  In  the  defence  of  a  difficult 
pass,  a  wood,  or  an  entrenched  post,  the  American 
backwoodsmen  are  unequalled ;  they  can  with  diffi- 
culty be  got  to  stand  in  open  ground,  and  have  no 
confidence  in  battalion  movements,  but  give  them 
the  stump  of  a  tree,  a  fence,  or  a  hillock  of  earth, 
over  which  they  can  level  their  piece,  and  the 
youngest  boy  among  them  will  ply  the  work  of 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  ROSS — REVIEW.  229 

destruction  with  a  deliberate  certainty  of  aim,  which 
is  disastrous  in  the  last  degree  to  the  battalions  of 
the  enemy.  It  is  not  known  who  killed  General 
Ross ;  common  report  attributes  the  effective  shot 
to  some  one  of  a  few  lads  who  were  posted  behind 
a  bush,  but  one  of  the  most  opulent  citizens,  a 
Scotsman  by  birth,  who  with  the  rest  shouldered 
his  musket  on  the  occasion,  tells  me  on  the  author- 
ity of  the  general  who  commanded,  that  no  reliance 
can  be  placed  on  that  report. 

This  important  event  took  place  on  the  twelfth 
of  September,  and  I  was  the  other  day  present 
at  a  review,  which  annually  commemorates  the 
successful  defence  of  the  town.  As  I  am  no  way 
skilled  in  military  tactics,  I  cannot  pretend  to  cri- 
ticise the  evolutions  which  I  saw.  The  young 
men  belonging  to  the  town  wear  in  general  a  blue 
uniform,  and  make  a  creditable  appearance;  the 
country  militia  wear  no  uniform  at  all,  and  have  a 
very  tag-rag -and-bobtail  kind  of  aspect.  The  day 
was  excessively  hot,  and  some  of  them  marched 
to  the  field  in  their  shirt  sleeves,  where  blackened 
with  dust,  perspiration  and  powder,  they  presented 
a  somewhat  ferocious  appearance.  A  small  body  of 
sharpshooters  were  on  the  field  in  a  dark  grey  uni- 
form, which  had  a  remarkably  neat  appearance ; 
we  are  accustomed  to  green  for  this  description  of 
troops,  but  I  doubt  whether  the  grey  will  not  in 
general  answer  the  purpose  of  obscurity  and  con- 
cealment fully  as  well.  On  the  flanks  were  sta- 

VOL.  i.  u 


230  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

tionecl  some  companies  of  artillery,  at  right  angles 
to  the  main  line ;  and  the  contrast  which  different 
battalions  exhibited  was  no  where  more  conspicuous 
than  among  them.  I  was  highly  amused  with  a 
corps  of  old  fellows  who  strongly  reminded  me  of 
the  Edinburgh  city  guard,  while  it  was  yet  in 
being;  they  wore  long  tailed  coats  and  cocked 
hats,  and  their  hair  was  larded  with  pomatum  and 
powder.  The  working  of  their  guns  was  a  serious 
business ;  there  was  a  sad  chasing  of  each  other 
for  a  cartridge,  much  prompting  and  directing 
about  thrusting  it  in,  and  to  fire  and  sponge  were 
works  of  undisguised~danger  and  difficulty.  An 
unfortunate  position  made  their  awkwardness  still 
more  conspicuous,  for  close  beside  them  were 
posted  the  '  Independent  Blues,'  a  body  of  trimly 
dressed,  active  young  fellows,  who  handled  the 
rammer  and  the  linstock  with  exemplary  dexterity, 
and  if  the  rules  of  good  breeding  and  military 
discipline  had  not  prevented  them,  would  have 
fired  at  least  two  shots  for  one  of  the  venerables' 
beside  them.  The  troops  paraded  at  ten  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  did  not  leave  the  ground  till 
four  in  the  afternoon ;  they  had  an  hour's  interval 
however  at  noon,  and  there  were  on  the  ground 
numerous  itinerant  venders  of  peaches,  pastry,  and 
soda  water. 

I  witnessed  since  my  arrival  here,  a  spectacle  of 
a  different  kind,  and  one  that  is  more  rarely  seen 
in  the  United  States,  the  execution  of  two  men  for 

8 


EXECUTION.  231 

mail-robbery.  Flagrant  as  this  offence  is  esteemed 
among  us  it  is  not  a  capital  crime  here,  unless 
when  accomplished  by  the  aid  of  deadly  weapons, 
or  with  such  a  show  of  violence  as  may  put  those 
who  travel  with  the  mail  in  fear  of  their  lives.  In 
the  present  instance  the  lives  of  the  driver  and 
passengers  had  been  threatened,  and  as  the  per- 
petrators were  old  and  notorious  offenders,  the  law 
was  allowed  to  take  its  course.3 

Baltimore  prison  is  built  on  a  sloping  ground 
rather  out  of  town,  and  has  a  large  open  court 
yard,  every  part  of  which  is  well  seen  from  different 
parts  of  the  rising  ground  which  environ  the  city. 
The  gallows  was  erected  within  the  yard  and  the 
hills  around  were  covered  with  spectators.  I  am 
no  frequenter  of  such  scenes,  yet  I  was  desirous  of 
witnessing  the  effect  of  so  unusual  and  tragic  an 
occurrence  on  an  American  assembly.  On  reaching 

*  Robbery  of  the  mail  is  very  frequent  in  the  United  States ;  yet 
all  things  considered,  not  so  much  so  as  might  be  expected.  Re- 
mittances from  one  part  of  the  Union  to  another,  even  of  large 
sums,  are  generally  made  by  transmitting  bank  notes  in  letters 
by  the  Post  Office ;  scarcely  a  mail  bag  is  made  up  for  any  of 
the  larger  cities,  which  does  not  contain  in  this  way  large  sums 
of  money.  The  mail  is  totally  unprotected ;  there  is  no  guard, 
and  the  driver  carries  no  arms.  In  the  more  frequented  roads 
the  bag  is  now  carried  in  a  kind  of  boot  -under  the  driver's  seat, 
but  in  the  country  it  is  tossed  carelessly  into  the  bottom  of  the 
stage  waggon,  to  annoy  with  trunks  and  portmanteaus  the  feet 
of  the  passengers.  On  one  occasion  while  travelling  in  one  of 
these  vehicles,  I  observed  a  cut  in  the  bag  beside  me,  large  enough 
to  admit  a  man's  hand. 

U2 


232  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

the  brow  of  one  of  the  hills,  soon  after  the  unhappy 
men  had  been  turned  off,  I  found  every  command- 
ing position  covered  with  spectators.  The  multitude 
seemed  to  differ  from  what  a  similar  catastrophe 
calls  forth  at  home,  chiefly  in  the  superior  respecta- 
bility of  their  appearance.  There  were  plenty  of 
all  classes,  but  a  decidedly  large  proportion  were 
well  dressed,  and  females  of  various  ages,  and  ap- 
parently all  conditions,  were  not  wanting.  It  was 
manifest  that  curiosity  is  quite  as  active  a  principle 
here  as  at  home ;  and  that  an  American  crowd  as 
well  as  a  British  one  is  powerfully  influenced  by 
that  singular  characteristic  of  our  nature,  a  fond- 
ness for  tragic  spectacles.  The  distance  at  which 
I  and  those  around  me  stood,  prevented  us  from 
seeing  very  plainly  the  more  minute  circumstances 
of  the  work  of  death,  but  the  general  aspect  of 
the  '  gallows  tree'  did  not,  it  was  obvious,  excite 
very  keen  feelings  of  commiseration  for  the  suffer- 
ers;  the  spectators  gazed  towards  the  fatal  spot, 
pretty  much  as  they  would  have  done  had  it  been 
an  eclipse  of  the  moon  or  a  house  on  fire.4  I  had 
in  my  pocket  a  small  perspective  glass,  which  I 
offered  to  two  young  ladies  who  happened  to 
stand  near  me ;  they  seemed  quite  pleased  with 
the  accommodation,  and  continued  to  use  it  al- 
ternately till  the  whole  of  the  melancholy  scene 

4  A  fair  '  Englishwoman'  sketches  a  remarkably  different  picture 
of  an  American  execution ;  perhaps  the  variation  in  our  stories  may 
have  arisen  from  her  never  having  seen  one. 


PENITENTIARY HOSPITAL.  233 

was  over.  The  bodies  on  being  cut  down  were 
immediately  buried  in  the  corner  of  the  prison 
yard. 

A  visit  to  the  Penitentiary  of  Baltimore,  has 
suggested  no  remark  upon  the  system  which  I 
have  not  already  made.  The  condition  of  the 
prisoners  is  perfectly  comfortable,  and  to  judge 
from  their  appearance  you  would  suppose  them 
quite  contented  with  it ;  they  show  to  visitors  the 
various  articles  of  manufacture  in  which  they  are 
employed,  and  explain  the  steps  in  the  process  with 
as  much  willingness  as  ordinary  workmen,  and  with- 
out any  symptoms  of  shame  that  they  should  be 
found  in  such  a  place.  There  are  at  present  about 
360  prisoners,  two  of  whom  are  Scotsmen ;  a  third 
died  a  few  days  ago.  The  keeper  informed  me 
that  one  of  them  evinced  a  strong  desire  to  save 
his  country  the  disgrace  connected  with  his  delin- 
quency, for  when  first  examined  he  called  himself 
a  native  of  North  Carolina. 

The  Hospital  is  a  large  building  a  short  way  out 
of  town,  and  is  said  to  be  under  excellent  manage- 
ment. A  splendid  collection  of  anatomical  models 
in  wax  is  exhibited  in  it,  at  the  charge  of  a  dollar 
for  each  visitor ;  the  admission  price  is  high,  but 
it  is  in  fact  a  contribution  to  the  funds  of  the  in- 
stitution, and  is  therefore  cheerfully  paid.  The 
nature  of  the  figures  is  not  such  as  to  invite  a 
minute  description  of  them,  but  they  appear  to  be 
very  beautifully  executed. 

U3 


234  LETTER  VIII. BALTIMORE. 

The  State  of  Maryland  lias  all  along  been  dis- 
tinguished by  a  sedulous  attention  to  the  advance- 
ment of  learning;  and  for  several  years  consider- 
able sums  of  money  have  been  annually  voted  by 
the  legislature  for  the  support  of  schools  and  col- 
leges. In  all  these  appropriations  it  is  an  express 
and  honourable  stipulation  that  no  distinction  shall 
be  made  in  favour  of  any  religious  sect,  but  that 
both  the  management  and  the  benefit  of  the  insti- 
tutions shall  be  free  to  persons  of  every  denomina- 
tion. In  1807  a  Medical  College  was  founded 
here,  and  in  1812  its  charter  was  extended  so  as 
to  embrace  the  other  departments  of  science  and 
literature;  it  then  received  the  appellation  of  the 
University  of  Maryland.  As  yet  the  medical  de- 
partment is  the  only  one  which  has  been  brought 
into  operation.  There  is  also  an  older  College, 
called  St.  Mary's,  which  though  a  Romish  estab- 
lishment, is  said  to  have  educated  some  of  the  first 
literary  men  in  the  United  States ;  it  was  not  em- 
powered to  confer  literary  Degrees  till  1805.  It  is 
mentioned  as  a  proof  of  the  liberality  of  the  con- 
ductors, that  no  religious  test  is  required  at  this 
institution,  either  for  admission  or  for  a  degree; 
but  probably  not  the  less  danger  is  to  be  appre- 
hended from  this  circumstance.  Timeo  Danaos  et 
dona  fcrentes.  Voluntarily  to  prevent  Protestants 
from  coming  under  their  influence,  was  never  the 
system  of  Papists ;  it  is  much  more  characteristic 
of  their  policy-  to  receive  with  professions  of  liber- 


EDUCATION FLOUR  MILL.  235 

ality  all  who  offer,  and  then  to  put  in  operation 
their  proselyting  skill.5 

A  school  is  conducted  here  on  the  Lancasterian 
plan,  which  contains  about  three  hundred  children. 
I  thought  on  visiting  it,  that  the  teacher's  manner 
to  his  pupils,  was  most  unnecessarily  harsh  and 
repulsive ;  and,  although  their  proficiency  appeared 
to  be  creditable,  that  more  might  be  effected  by 
one  who  knew  how  to  conciliate  the  affections  of 
those  over  whom  he  ruled.  I  understand  that  a 
change  is  not  improbable,  for  the  pedagogue  is 
discontented  with  the  amount  of  his  salary,  al- 
though it  is  equal  to  that  of  a  Professor  in  most  of 
the  colleges.  6 

Baltimore  is  celebrated  for  the  fineness  of  its 
flour ;  the  superiority  of  which  arises  from  the  per- 
fection at  which  they  have  arrived  in  the  machinery 
by  which  it  is  manufactured.  I  have  recently  visit- 
ed a  mill  driven  by  steam,  in  which  manual  labour 
is  so  completely  excluded,  that  the  sailor  who  de- 
livers the  grain  at  the  wharf  is  the  last  person  who 
applies  his  hand  to  it,  till  it  descends  into  the  bar- 
rel in  the  shape  of  superfine  flour.  It  is  difficult 
to  convey  a  proper  idea  of  machinery  without  the 
aid  of  drawings,  but  I  trust  you  will  be  able  to 

5  For  farther  information  respecting  the  state  of  education   in 
Maryland,  and  other  parts  of  the   United  States,  the  Reader  is  re- 
ferred to  an  article  in  the  North  American  Review,  No.  XXXIII. 

6  The  individual  alluded  to  left  Baltimore  soon  after  my  last 
visit  to  it. 


236  LETTER  VIII. BALTIMORE. 

comprehend  the  following  rude  outline  of  the  pro- 
cess. A  covered  trough  which  projects  from  the 
mill  to  the  edge  of  the  wharf,  receives  the  grain  as 
it  is  emptied  from  the  vessel ;  within  this  trough  is 
an  axle  revolving  longitudinally,  around  which  are 
thin  pieces  of  wood  projecting  into  the  trough,  and 
continued  along  in  a  spiral  line.  As  the  revolution 
of  the  screw  of  Archimedes  raises  water,  so  this 
axle  by  revolving  among  the  grain  forces  it  back- 
ward in  a  regular  current  from  the  wharf  to  the  IP  ill. 
The  gi'ain  on  reaching  the  inner  end  of  this  trough 
is  received  into  a  succession  of  little  tin  buckets, 
which  are  strung  upon  an  endless  belt  revolving 
upon  two  wheels,  the  higher  of  which  is  in  the 
garret  floor.  As  these  buckets  turn  over  the 
upper  wheel  they  empty  their  contents  into  a  box, 
from  which  the  grain  is  conveyed  to  the  fanners, 
where  it  is  thoroughly  cleaned.  From  the  fanners 
it  is  conducted  into  the  hoppers,  in  the  floor  below  ; 
here  eight  pairs  of  stones  are  kept  constantly  at 
work.  From  the  stones  the  flour  descends  into  a 
long  wooden  trough,  similar  to  that  into  which  the 
grain  was  first  thrown ;  and  another  spiral  screw, 
revolving  here,  urges  it  gradually  forward  to  an- 
other series  of  buckets,  which  carry  it  to  an  upper 
story, '  and  discharge  it  under  a  machine  for  cool- 
ing it.  This  consists  of  a  spindle  revolving  perpen- 
dicularly, with  a  horizontal  shaft  crossing  it  near 
the  floor,  in  the  under  part  of  which  are  teeth 
formed  of  thin  slips  of  wood,  which  nearly  touch 


COMPETITION  FOR  SHERIFFALTY.  237 

the  floor,  and  which  are  so  disposed  in  relation  to 
each  other,  that  while  they  stir  the  flour  round, 
they  at  the  same  time  convey  it  inwards  to  the 
centre.  The  flour  is  thus  spread  thinly  over  the 
floor,  and  as  the  teeth  revolve  among  it,  it  de- 
scribes circles  successively  smaller  and  smaller,  un- 
til it  falls  through  an  opening  into  the  bolting  ma- 
chines in  the  story  below.  Here  are  three  bolting 
cylinders,  producing  the  various  degrees  of  common, 
fine,  and  superfine  flour ;  and  from  them  it  is  final- 
ly received  into  barrels,  ready  for  inspection  and 
shipping.  This  mill  manufactures  with  ease  a 
thousand  bushels  a  day;  and  the  flour  which  it 
produces,  always  commands  an  advance  on  the 
average  market  price. 

The  essentially  republican  ^constitution  of  this 
country,  is  daily  forced  upon  a  stranger's  observa- 
tion in  various  ways.  At  present  a  vigorous  com- 
petition is  going  forward  in  this  city,  for  the  office 
of  Sheriff; — I  copy  the  following  advertisements 
from  the  newspapers  : — 

«  SHERIFFALTY. 

"  Samuel  Merryman  offers  himself  to  his  fellow  citizens  as  a  can- 
didate for  the  office  of  Sheriff,  for  Baltimore  city  and  county,  at  the 
ensuing  election.  Having  been  employed  as  deputy  Sheriff,  by 
William  Merryman  and  John  Chalmers,  Esquires,  during  their  re- 
spective terms  of  service,  his  experience  justifies  the  hope  that  he 
will  be  found  capable  of  performing  the  duties  of  that  important  sta- 
tion ;  and  he  pledges  himself  to  do  so  with  impartiality  and  diligence, 
if  elected." 


238  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

Immediately  under  this  address  appears  the 
following:— 

«  SHERIFFALTY. 

"  The  subscriber,  at  the  instance  of  a  number  of  his  friends,  offers 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  Sheriffalty  of  Baltimore  county,  and 
respectfully  solicits  the  suffrages  of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  has  for 
some  time  past  been  employed,  and  still  remains  in  the  employ  of 
the  present  Sheriff,  and  flatters  himself  he  will  be  capable  of  giving 
general  satisfaction,  in  the  discharge  of  the  several  duties  of  the  office. 

JOHN  STITCHER." 

The  claims  of  these  rival  candidates  seem  so 
equally  balanced,  that  the  independent  electors 
might  chance  to  find  themselves  in  the  same  con- 
dition as  the  animal  between  the  two  bundles  of 
straw ;  but  here  comes  a  third,  with  more  formida- 
ble qualifications,  and  I  should  not  be  at  all  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  he  carries  his  point,  against 
both  Messrs.  Merryman  and  Stitcher  : — 

«  SHERIFFALTY. 

"  INDEPENDENT  CANDIDATE. 

"  The  subscriber  begs  leave  respectfully  to  offer,  liimself  to  the 
consideration  of  the  voters  of  the  city  and  county  of  Baltimore,  at  the 
ensuing  election,  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Sheriff.  For  the 
information  of  his  fellow  citizens,  (friends  he  has  none,  nor  ever 
had  any,)  he  would  state,  that  he  is  in  political  principles  indepen- 
dent of  either  party  ;  in  religion  a  Christian  ;  in  moral  character  an 
honest  man ;  and  by  profession,  an  artist  whose  business  it  is  to 
shorten  the  fire- wood  of  his  neighbours,  without  the  use  of  axe— vul- 
garly called  a  wood  sawer. 

"  Although  he  is  aware,  that  there  are  men  who  will  refuse  their 
support  on  account  of  liis  occupation,  yet  he  believes  that  a  majority 
of  his  enlightened  fellow  citizens  will  rather  look  at  the  man,  than 
the  sawer— at  the  abilities,  than  the  coat  that  covers  them.  And  al- 


COMPETITION  FOR  SHERIFFALTY.  239 

though  he  cannot  boast  of  having  been  in  the  employment  of  the 
Sheriff,  yet  he  flatters  himself  that  his  qualifications  for  the  office 
would  not  suffer  by  a  comparison  with  either  of  his  competitors. 
Should  he  succeed  in  obtaining  a  majority  of  the  suffrages  of  his 
fellow  citizens,  he  pledges  himself  to  fulfil  the  duties  incumbent  on 
the  Sheriff  of  Baltimore  County,  with  impartiality  and  fidelity. 

JAMES  MOONEY." 

A  wood  sawer  in  America,  is  scarcely  a  step 
higher  in  the  scale  of  society  than  a  coal  porter  is 
with  us  ;  the  occupation  is  a  cleaner  one,  but  other- 
wise they  appear  to  be  pretty  much  upon  a  level. 
His  occupation  is  to  cut  fire  wood  into  the  proper 
length  for  burning,  and  to  carry  it  from  the  street 
into  the  yards  or  dwelling  houses  of  his  employers. 
The  joke  however  does  not  end  here.  An  advertise- 
ment appeared  a  few  days  after  those  which  I  have 
quoted,  intimating  that  the  rival  candidates  would, 
on  a  particular  evening,  publicly  address  their 
fellow  citizens  in  support  of  their  respective  claims 
to  their  suffrages.  This,  it  is  said,  must  have  been 
inserted  by  some  wag,  who  wished  to  amuse  him- 
self and  his  fellow  citizens  at  the  expense  of  the 
aspirants  for  popular  favour;  yet  the  requisition 
operated  imperatively  on  the  appearance  of  the 
candidates,  for  had  any  one  of  them  declined  the 
wordy  contest,  it  would  probably  have  so  displeased 
the  independent  electors,  as  to  nullify  completely 
his  chance  of  success.  I  attended  under  the  piazza 
of  the  market  place,  to  hear  the  speeches;  day 
lifjht  was  sone,  but  a  few  candle  ends  were  stuck 

O  O  7 

against  the  wall,  and  by  the  faint  light  which  they 


240  LETTER  VIII. BALTIMORE. 

afforded  I  saw  an  orator  elevated  somewhat  above 
the  crowd  of  auditors,  and  haranguing  away  very 
much  to  their  satisfaction,  as  their  frequent  shouts 
and  cheers  testified.  I  could  not  get  near  enough 
to  understand  the  topics  of  discourse,  or  his  mode 
of  illustrating  them  ;  nor  could  I  learn  whether  or 
not  the  wood  sawer  was  the  declaimer,  but  the 
word  wotes  once  or  twice  reached  my  ear,  from 
which  it  was  evident,  that  he  kept  well  in  view  the 
main  object  of  his  thus  essaying  the.  art  of  De- 
mosthenes. 7 

The  aspect  of  Baltimore  in  religious  matters,  is 
upon  the  whole  a  gratifying  one.  The  Popish 
cathedral  and  college,  and  the  Socinian  chapel, 
must  have  suggested  to  you  that  error  is  not  want- 
ing; but  it  is  gratifying  to  be  assured  that  its  in- 
fluence is  not  paramount.  Many  are  to  be  found 
here  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal ;  and 
faithful  pastors  who  are  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  nor  indolent  in  proclaiming  and  defending  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  magnificence  of  the  Socin- 
ian chapel,  the  sect  I  understand  is  not  numer- 
ous. A  few  individuals  are  wealthy,  and  sanguine 
in  their  expectation,  that  the  splendour  of  the 
building,  and  the  philosophical  character  of  the 
worship,  will  induce  persons  of  cultivated  taste  to 
flock  to  their  standard.  Those  with  whom  religion 

7  Such  a  scene  as  this,  is  peculiar  to  the  southern  part  of  the 
country ;  in  most  of  the  northern  and  eastern  States  advertising  for 
office  is  unknown. 


CHURCHES.  241 

is  a  matter  of  taste,  may  perhaps  so  choose  to 
manifest  their  claim  to  it ;  but  so  long  as  they  thus 
legislate  between  God  and  their  own  consciences, 
it  is  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference  in  what 
alace  they  profess  to  worship  him. 

Of  the  disciples  of  the  church  of  Rome,  the 
lumber  is  much  -greater ;  for  Maryland  is,  as  re- 
gards the  United  States,  the  head  quarters  of 
popery.  It  was  indeed  originally  a  popish  colony, 
sstablished  by  the  efforts  of  George  Calvert,  Lord 
Baltimore,  a  nobleman  who  having  become  a 
convert  to  the  Romish  faith,  after  filling  offices 
of  high  political  trust  under  James  the  First  of 
England,  relinquished  his  situation  at  court,  and 
turned  his  attention  to  the  establishment  of  this 
colony.  He  showed  however  by  the  laws  which 
he  promulgated,  that  he  continued  free  from  one 
of  the  most  odious  characteristics  of  popery ;  re- 
ligious liberty  was  established  and  maintained  in  its 
fullest  extent,  so  much  so,  that  when  the  Quakers 
were  persecuted  in  New  England,  and  the  Puritans 
iu  Virginia,  both  found  an  asylum  in  Maryland,  in 
which  they  enjoyed  unfettered  liberty  of  conscience 
and  of  worship. 

During  my  residence  here  I  have  attended 
worship  with  congregations  of  various  denomina- 
tions. In  two  Episcopalian  churches,  the  contrast 
as  to  doctrine  and  ceremonial  was  as  great  as 
can  be  well  supposed.  In  the  first  I  heard  a  dis- 
course from  a  passage  in  the  apocryphal  book  of 
VOL.  i.  x 


242  LETTER  VIII. —  BALTIMORE. 

Ecclesiasticus  : — "  Fear  not  the  sentence  of  death." 
The  sermon  to  which  this  was  a  prelude,  was,  I 
am  sorry  to  say  as  apocryphal  in  its  doc- 
trine as  in  its  text.  God  speaking  by  an  inspir- 
ed prophet  has  said,  "  their  fear  toward  me  is 
taught  by  the  precept  of  men," — a  passage  too 
appropriately  applicable  in  the  present  instance. 
The  interior  of  the  church  in  which  this  clergy- 
man officiates  is  very  splendid;  rows  of  Corin- 
thian columns  support  the  roof  and  galleries,  and  a 
great  deal  of  gilding  and  decoration  is  lavished 
around.  Some  rags  of  popery  are  unfortunately 
interspersed — Laus  Deo,  for  instance,  upon  the 
organ,  and  I.  H.  S.  encircled  by  rays  upon  the 
back  of  the  pulpit. 

The  other  Episcopal  church  was  as  remarkable 
for  plainness  as  this  for  decoration ;  not  that  it  was 
of  the  '  barn  order'  of  architecture,  as  an  English 
traveller  is  said  to  have  wittily  remarked  of  some 
of  our  Scotish  churches,  but  it  was  free  from  much 
of  the  tinsel  finery  which  is  so  often  seen.  The 
clergyman  and  the  service  were  both  equally  dis- 
tinguished by  their  adherence  to  simplicity.  The 
minister  in  a  black  gown  went  at  once  into  the 
pulpit,  where  he  read  prayers  arid  delivered  his 
sermon,  without  conforming  to  the  usual  but  un- 
meaning ceremonial  of  changing  his  robes.  When 
the  sermon  was  finished,  he  offered  up  an  extem- 
poraneous prayer,  of  considerable  length  and 
great  devotional  fervour.  To  complete  the  exter- 


CHURCHES  AND  SERMONS.  243 

nal    characteristics     of    this    congregation,    they 
have   no    organ,7    or    instrumental    music  of  any 
kind;    a  choir  is  placed  in  front  of  the  gallery 
•which    leads    the    singing,    and    the    congregation 
pretty  generally  unite  in  it.     These  variations  from 
customary  form  in  Episcopalian  worship,  are  favour- 
able symptoms  of  the  spirituality  of  the  congrega- 
tion,   and    its  pastor;  and   I  am    most    happy   to 
add,  that  the  discourses  which   I  heard  delivered 
from  the  pulpit,  were  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
word  evangelical ;  the  grand  truth   of  the  gospel 
that    "  Jesus   died  for   sinners    and    rose    again 
for  their  justification,"   was    perspicuously    stated 
and  powerfully  enforced.     I  have  heard  this  minis- 
ter on  various  occasions,  and  the  opinion  which   I 
first  formed  respecting  him  has  been  strengthened 
by  every  subsequent  discourse.     He  expounds  the 
scriptures  in  an  instructive  arid  convincing  manner, 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  is  the  leading  topic 
of  his  illustration.     "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness,"  was  his  text  on  one 
occasion ;    and  on  another  he  addressed  us  from 
that  passage  in  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "  Behold  ye  that 
kindle  a  fire  and  compass  yourselves  about  with 
sparks  ;  walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire,  and  in  the 
sparks  that  ye  have  kindled.     This  shall  ye  have 
of  mine   hand,   ye    shall   lie   down    in    sorrow  !" 

7  It  is  not  without  some  degree  of  regret  that  I  have  learned  that 
an  organ  has  been  subsequently  introduced.  (1822.) 
X2 


244  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

from  which  he  proclaimed  a  loud  alarm  to  unbe- 
lievers, grounded  on  the  certainty  and  awfulness 
of  future  punishment. 

The  ministrations  of  this  worthy  and  zealous 
pastor  are  not  confined  to  the  Sabbath.  On 
Wednesday  evening  he  has  a  meeting  for  prayer, 
in  a  large  room  near  his  church,  at  which  a  very 
considerable  number  attend.  I  did  not  hear  of 
this  ,till  I  had  but  one  Wednesday  to  spend  here, 
and  have  of  course  been  but  once  present.  At 
this  meeting  nearly  all  the  formalities  of  Episcopa- 
lianism  were  excluded ;  the  prayer  book  was  not 
introduced,  and  excepting  that  the  assembly  kneel- 
ed during  prayer,  there  was  nothing  from  which 
any  one  could  have  guessed  at  the  denomination 
to  which  it  belonged.  After  a  fervent  prayer,  the 
minister  addressed  us  from  the  words  of  Hosea, 
"  O  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself;  but  in  me 
is  thine  help  !" — the  address  was  a  faithful  and 
affectionate  exhortation  to  Christians  to  recollect 
what  by  nature  and  practice  they  were,  and  in 
whom  their  hope  was  found.  On  concluding  the 
address  he  called  by  name  on  one  of  the  members 
of  his  congregation  to  pray ;  after  prayer  the 
females  present  sang  a  hymn,  the  minister  then 
named  another  person,  who  also  prayed ;  a  second 
hymn  was  sung,  and  the  blessing  was  pronounced. 

The  spirit  of  the  discourse   which  I   heard   ia 
the  Presbyterian   church,    was,    I   regret   to   say, 
very  inconsistent  with  the  scriptural  statement  that 
7 


CHURCHES  AND  SERMONS.  245 

"  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given 
among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  but  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth.  The  preacher 
virtually  set  aside  the  doctrines  of  original  depravity, 
regeneration  and  atonement;  not  indeed  by  in  so 
many  words  denying  them,  but  by  inculcating  senti- 
ments which  were  utterly  subversive  of  their  belief. 

The  pastor  of  the  church  in  connexion  with  the 
Associate  Synod,  I  have  heard  several  times  with 
much  pleasure.  "  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast 
no  part  with  me,"  was  selected  as  a  text,  from 
which  he  successfully  refuted  the  reasonings  of 
those  who  make  mere  morality,  and  personal  re- 
formation, the  ground  of  a  sinner's  hope.  On  a 
communion  Sabbath  he  illustrated,  from  the  words 
in  the  Song,  "  I  am  my  beloved's  and  my  beloved 
is  mine,"  the  intimate  and  endearing  connexion 
which  exists  between  Christ  and  his  church,  and 
the  consequent  obligation  under  which  every  mem- 
ber of  it  is  placed,  to  exhibit  in  all  his  conduct  the 
influence  of  that  spiritual  union,  without  which  he 
is  altogether  dead.  The  number  of  church  mem- 
bers is  not  very  great ;  a  row  of  tables  was  placed 
down  the  centre  passage,  and  they  were  only  twice 
filled.  Those  who  first  sat  down  were  addressed 
by  the  pastor,  who  then  seated  himself  as  a  com- 
municant at  the  second  distribution,  at  which  an- 
other minister  presided. 

At  the  Baptist  church  I  have  been  once  present. 
The  pastor  is  a  native  of  France,  who  speaks  the 
X3 


246  LETTER  VIII. — BALTIMORE. 

English  language  with  tolerable  correctness,  but 
not  without  a  considerable  tinge  of  his  vernacular 
idiom  and  pronunciation.  He  selected  as  his 
text,  "  This  child  is  set  for  the  fall  and  rising  again 
of  many  in  Israel ;"  and  if  his  discourse  was  not 
characterized  by  any  great  degree  of  talent,  it  was 
as  I  thought  scriptural  in  doctrine. 

The  Cameronian  or  Reformed  Presbyterian 
congregation  is  a  small  one,  but  a  young  and 
zealous  minister  of  very  considerable  talent  has 
been  recently  appointed  over  it,  under  whom  -it  is 
not  improbable  that  the  number  will  increase. 

Sabbath  schools  have  been  in  operation  in  Balti- 
more for  some  time,  but  the  inhabitants  have  not 
yet  fully  learned  to  appreciate  their  value.  The 
teachers  tell  me  that  they  find  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  persuading  the  children  to  attend  regu- 
larly, and  too  frequently  the  parents,  when  spoken 
to  on  the  subject,  show  by  their  answers  that  they 
almost  consider  it  a  favour  to  the  teachers  to  allow 
their  children  to  be  taught  by  them  !  I  was  sorry 
to  observe  however  in  a  school  which  I  visited,  that 
even  some  of  the  teachers  were  frequently  either 
late  or  absent;  so  long  as  this  lukewarmness  exists 
among  them,  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  punctuality 
in  the  scholars. 

The  Sabbath  is  upon  the  whole  decorously 
observed  in  Baltimore,  yet  I  have  seen  black  girls 
sitting  in  the  evening  at  Washington's  monument 


HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  INHABITANTS.  247 

selling  peaches,  and   it  was  but  too  obvious   that 
they  were  not  without  customers. 

If  I  may  judge  from  my  own  experience,  the 
natives  of  Baltimore  are  exceedingly  kind  and  hos- 
pitable to  strangers.  I  met  almost  every  where 
with  an  open-hearted  warmth  of  reception  which  is 
exceedingly  gratifying. 


LETTER  IX. 

WASHINGTON SITUATION PLAN APPEARANCE TIBER  CREEK 

— CAPITOL — PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE — IMPOLICY  OF  BURNING  THE 

PUBLIC  BUILDINGS LIBRARY MODELS  OF  THE  PATENT  OFFICE 

PATENTS COPY-RIGHT  LAW NAVY  YARD — NAVAL  MONU- 
MENT  SENATE HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTATIVES USAGES    OF 

THE  AMERICAN  CONGRESS  AND  BRITISH  PARLIAMENT SUPREME 

COURT    OF   THE  UNITED  STATES TRUMBULL*S  PAINTING   OF 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE — CHURCHES. 

Washington,  September,  1818. 

I  HAVE  now  the  honour  of  addressing  you  from 
the  metropolis  of  the  United  States.  It  is  common 
here. to  call  Washington  '  the  city  in  the  woods,'  I 
was  therefore  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  there 
is  little  or  no  wood  near  it.  The  aspect  of  the  city 
indeed  would  have  been  much  improved  by  a  few 
trees,  to  fill  up  the  vacancies,  and  thus  afford 
something  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon  between  one 
group  of  buildings  and  another.  The  soil  however 
is  poor,  and  the  probability  is  that  there  has  never 
been  much-  timber  on  this  spot ;  I  have  noticed 
none  of  the  stumps  which  are  usually  left  when  the 
forests  are  felled. 

The  position  which  was  selected  for  the  Federal 
city,  is  a  point  of  land  embraced  by  the  forking 
of  the  river  Potowmak,  about  one  hundred  and 


252  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

twenty  miles  from  its  junction  with  the  Chesapeake, 
and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the 
sea.  The  principal  branch  of  the  river  flows  down 
upon  the  west,  arid  unites  with  the  smaller  one 
from  the  eastward  in  front  of  the  city.  Ships  of 
war  of  the  largest  size  can  float  in  safety  three  or 
four  miles  above  the  junction  of  the  streams.  It 
was  expected  that  this  situation  would  have  been 
found  particularly  favourable  to  commercial  enter- 
prize,  and  consequently  that  the  population  would 
rapidly  increase ;  hitherto  however  these  hopes  have 
not  been  realized.  Georgetown,  about  a  mile  above 
upon  the  principal  branch  of  the  river,  monopo- 
lizes the  inland  trade,  and  Alexandria  seven  miles 
below  intercepts  the  foreign ;  while  the  barrenness  of 
the  surrounding  country  is  discouraging  to  settlers. 
The  prosperity  of  Washington  therefore  seems  to 
be  in  a  great  measure  dependent  on  its  advantages 
as  the  seat  of  government,  and  these  in  a  new  go- 
vernment, economical  even  to  penuriousness  in  the 
salaries  of  its  public  officers,  cannot  as  yet  be  very 
important. 

Great  however  or  trifling  as  they  may  be,  the 
city  did  not  till  very  lately  enter  upon  the  full  en- 
joyment of  them.  Great  doubts  were  entertained 
whether  it  was  to  continue  to  enjoy  the  presence  of 
the  chief  magistrate,  and  supreme  legislature ;  and 
capitalists  felt  no  inclination  to  invest  their  money 
in  property  which  was  not  otherwise  valuable,  and 
which  might  therefore  be  suddenly  and  irretrievably 


SITUATION  AND  APPEARANCE  OF  THE  CITY.    253 

depreciated.  But  what  the  natives  were  at  a  loss 
to  decide,  the  British  may  be  said  to  have  decided 
for  them.  The  burning  of  the  Capitol  and  the 
President's  house  during  last  war,  has  settled  the 
question,  and  it  seems  to  be  now  ascertained  to 
the  satisfaction  of  speculators,  that  Washington  is 
to  continue,  at  least  for  a  considerable  time  to 
come,  in  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  her  metro- 
politan privileges.  How  an  event  so  disastrous 
should  lead  to  consequences  so  propitious,  may 
seem  to  be  in  some  measure  a  paradox,  but  it  is  one 
of  easy  explanation.  When  the  rebuilding  of  these 
edifices  came  to  be  the  subject  of  deliberation  in 
Congress,  the  question  as  to  the  removal  of  the 
seat  of  the  legislature  was  necessarily  discussed ;  na- 
tional feeling  however  co-operated  powerfully  with 
other  considerations  to  influence  the  decision,  the 
proposal  was  at  once  scouted,  and  the  requisite 
amount  was  enthusiastically  voted  to  efface  the 
memorials  of  British  triumph.  Preparations  were 
instantly  made  to  rebuild  the  Capitol  and  Presi- 
dent's house  with  more  than  their  original  splen- 
dour, the  value  of  building  ground  and  of  houses 
took  an  immediate  start,  and  Washington  now 
exhibits  abundant  proof  of  the  enterprize  and 
elasticity  of  the  national  character. 

The  original  plan  of  the  city  was  on  a  most  ex- 
tensive scale.  A  parallelogram  more  than  four 
miles  and  a  half  long,  and  two  miles  broad,  was 
regularly  divided  into  streets,  avenues,  and  squares, 

VOL.  i.  y 


254  LETTER  IX. WASHINGTON. 

and  should  the  anticipations  of  its  founders  be 
realized,  this  will  after  all  be  but  the  nucleus  of 
the  future  metropolis.  The  streets  are  laid  out 
towards  the  cardinal  points,  crossing  each  other  at 
right  angles;  the  avenues  intersect  these  diagon- 
ally, so  as  to  avoid  the  tiresome  sameness  which  is 
observable  in  Philadelphia,  and  extensive  squares 
are  to  be  placed  at  the  crossings  of  these  trans- 
verse lines.  The  avenues  are  from  130  to  160 
feet  wide,  the  streets  from  80  to  110. 

To  lay  out  the  plan  of  a  city  however  is  one 
thing,  and  to  build  it  is  another;  of  all  the  re- 
gularity and  system  which  the  engraved  plan  ex- 
hibits, scarcely  a  trace  is  discernible  upon  the 
ground.  Instead  of  beginning  this  gigantic  under- 
taking in  a  central  spot,  and  gradually  extending 
the  buildings  from  a  common  focus,  they  appear  to 
have  commenced  at  once  in  twenty  or  thirty  differ- 
ent places,  without  the  slightest  regard  to  concen- 
tration or  the  comforts  of  good  neighbourhood  ; 
and  a  stranger  looking  round  him  for  Washington, 
sees  two  houses  here,  and  six  there,  and  a  dozen 
yonder,  scattered  in  straggling  groups  over  the 
greater  part  of  three  or  four  square  miles.  Hi- 
therto the  city  does  not  contain  above  fourteen 
thousand  inhabitants,  but  these  have  taken  root 
in  so  many  different  places,  that  the  public  crier, 
a  black  man  whom  I  have  just  seen  performing  the 
duties  of  his  calling,  is  obliged  to  make  the  circuit 

on   horseback.      Pennsylvania  Avenue   is   almost 

7 


THE  TIBER — PUBLIC  BUILpINGS.  255 

the  only  place  where  the  line  of  communication 
can  be  traced.  This  stretches  from  the  Capitol  to 
the  President's  house,  a  distance  of  rather  more 
than  a  mile,  with  double  rows  of  gravel  walks  and 
poplar  trees ;  and  a  good  many  buildings  have  been 
erected  on  both  sides  of  it,  with  considerable  at- 
tention to  neatness  and  continuity.  This  however 
is  but  a  small  portion  of  the  intended  avenue, 
which  according  to  the  plan  is  to  stretch  out  in 
both  directions,  till  it  is  eventually  about  four  miles 
in  length. 

A  short  way  from  the  Capitol,  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  is  crossed  by  the  Tiber,  a  little  muddy 
stream,  or  creek  according  to  American  phrase- 
ology, which  filters  through  flags  and  rushes  into 
the  Potowmak.  A  wooden  bridge  is  thrown  over 
it,  but  the  stage  driver  who  brought  me  from  Balti- 
more preferred  fording  the  stream,  to  cool  the  feet 
of  his  horses.  Moore  in  one  of  his  poetical  epis- 
tles dated  from  the  *  Modern  Rome/  makes  a  sar- 
castic allusion  to  this  classic  stream,  but,  if  Weld 
is  correct,  the  name  was  given  it  by  some  early 
settler,  before  the  site  was  chosen  for  the  Federal 
city,  and  therefore  its  founders  are  not  answerable 
for  what  at  first  seems  a  piece  of  ridiculous  affec- 
tation. 

As  the  Capitol  and  the  President's  house  are 
both  of  freestone,  we  are  rather  disappointed  to 
find  them  covered  with  white  paint.  The  grain 

of  the  stone  is  indeed   rather  coarse,  and  a  good 
Y2 


256  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

many  hard  white  pebbles  are  imbedded  in  it,  yet 
the  walls  would  certainly  have  looked  better  in 
their  natural  colour.  The  truth  is,  the  buildings 

*  O 

were  both  originally  unpainted;  but  the  uncere- 
monious usage  which  they  received  from  our 
troops  at  the  capture  of  the  city,  so  effectually 
begrimmed  their  visages  that  it  was  found  impos- 
sible to  eradicate  the  defilement.  To  have  de- 
molished and  rebuilt  the  walls,  would  have  been 
a  very  costly  expedient,  and  as  the  least  of  two 
evils,  the  painter's  brush  was  resorted  to ;  here  and 
there  however,  above  some  of  the  windows,  the 
black  wreathings  of  the  smoke  are  still  discernible 
through  the  white  covering. 

Of  all  the  errors  committed  on  our  part  during 
that  unhappy  war,  this  was  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  greatest.  Setting  aside  the  question  as  to  its 
abstract  defensibility,  on  the  ground  of  retaliation 
or  otherwise,  it  is  obvious  that  it  was  in  the  highest 
degree  impolitic ;  because  its  immediate  effect,  as 
might  have  been  anticipated,  was  to  break  down 
party  spirit  among  the  Americans,  and  to  unite 
them  as  one  man  in  support  of  the  measures  of 
their  government.  The  firebrand  was  no  sooner 
applied  to  their  Chief  Magistrate's  Palace,  and 
the  National  Senate  House,  than  thousands  who 
had  from  the  beginning  maintained  a  systematic 
opposition  to  the  contest,  at  once  came  forward 
and  took  up  arms  to  maintain  it;  their  national 
feelings  were  roused  into  powerful  excitement,  and 


BURNING  OF  THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.         257 

they  joined  in  one  loud  voice  of  execration  at  the  de- 
struction of  their  national  edifices.  Our  ministers, 
had  such  been  their  object,  could  not  have  devised 
a  more  effectual  way  of  strengthening  Mr.  Madi- 
son's hands.  Had  our  troops  recorded  their  tri- 
umph upon  the  front  of  the  buildings,  and  left 
them  uninjured,  the  indignant  feeling  of  humilia- 
tion would  have  wreaked  itself  on  those  by  whose 
imbecility  the  capture  of  the  city  had  been  occa- 
sioned, and  who  escaped  so  nimbly  when  it  fell 
into  the  enemy's  hands.  But  the  burning  of  the 
buildings  saved  Mr.  Madison ;  a  thirst  for  revenge 
of  the  insult  overcame  every  other  feeling,  and  the 
war  became  thenceforward,  what  it  had  not  been 
before,  decidedly  popular  and  national. 

No  more  than  the  wings  of  the  Capitol  had  been 
completed  when  the  city  was  captured.  They 
have  risen  from  their  ashes,  and  are  again  roofed 
in;  the  centre  also  is  beginning  to  appear  above 
the  ground.  Each  wing  is  pretty  nearly  square, 
and  consists  of  a  basement  and  principal  story, 
surmounted  with  a  low  circular  dome  bearing  a 
small  lantern.  The  basement  is  rusticated,  and 
between  the  windows  of  the  principal  story  is  a 
row  of  Corinthian  pilasters.  The  centre  is  to  re- 
semble the  wings  in  its  general  features,  but  will 
project  considerably  beyond  them.  The  building 
wants  simplicity  very  much. 

The  House  of  Representatives   will  occupy  a 
Y3 


258  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

magnificent  hall  in  the  right  wing  of  the  building. 
The  Speaker's  chair  is  to  be  placed  near  the  wall, 
and  the  seats  and  desks  of  the  members  will  be 
disposed  in  semicircular  lines  round  it,  rising  as 
they  recede.  Beyond  the  members'  seats  will  be 
an  extensive  gallery  for  spectators.  Twenty-two 
splendid  Corinthian  columns  with  corresponding 
pilasters  are  to  surround  the  outline  of  the  semi- 
circle, and  the  wall  behind  the  Speaker's  chair. 
Part  of  these  are  already  erected.  The  shaft  of 
the  columns  is  of  a  kind  of  puddingstone  from 
the  banks  of  the  Potowmak,  composed  of  numer- 
ous pebbles  of  various  sizes  and  colours,  and  ad- 
mitting of  a  good  polish.  The  capitals,  which 
were  executed  in  Italy,  are  of  white  marble,  and  it 
is  said  cost  upwards  of  a  hundred  pounds  sterling 
each.  The  appropriate  foliage  of  this  splendid  or- 
der is  most  exquisitely  elaborated.  I  am  disposed 
to  think,  however,  that  had  the  columns  been  alto- 
gether of  white  marble,  the  effect  wrould  have  been 
much  more  pleasing.  As  the  workmen  are  still 
busy  with  this  hall,  I  am  unable  to  be  more  minute 
in  my  description. 

Among  a  multitude  of  workmen  who  are  now 
employed  on  the  building,  I  chanced  to  enter  into 
conversation  with  an  Irish  marble  cutter,  who  has 
been  here  for  some  months.  He  said  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  workmen  were  from  Scotland 
and  Ireland ;  their  wages  are  from  one  to  two 
dollars  a  day,  it  costs  them  about  three  dollars 


PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE.  259 

a  week  for  board  and  lodging,  and  he  is  able  to 
save  about  one  half  of  his  wages. 

The  President's  House  is  a  handsome  building  of 
considerable  dimensions,  occupying  the  brow  of  a 
rising  ground  near  the  bank  of  the  river  and  com- 
manding a  most  extensive  and  beautiful  prospect. 
In  the  centre  of  the  side  towards  the  river  is  a 
semicircular  projection,  and  Corinthian  pilasters,1 
rising  between  the  windows  to  the  full  height  of 
the  building,  support  a  balustrade  which  goes 
completely  round.  The  principal  front  however 
is  on  the  other  side,  rather  a  singular  arrangement 
I  think,  where  a  plain  but  lofty  portico  of  four 
columns  rises  above  the  entrance  door.  Among 
heaps  of  rubbish  around  the  building  I  saw  se- 
veral fragments  of  the  old  capitals  of  the  pilas- 
ters, which  had  been  cracked  by  the  conflagration 
and  thoroughly  blackened  with  smoke. 

The  walls  of  the  President's  House  are  now  re- 
stored to  their  former  condition,  and  carpenters 
and  upholsterers  are  busied  in  giving  to  the  in- 
terior more  than  its  original  splendour.  The  walls 
of  some  of  the  rooms  which  have  been  finished  are 
covered  with  very  rich  French  paper  studded  with 
gilt  flowers.  I  saw  in  one  of  them  a  full  length 
copy  in  oil  of  Stuart's  portrait  of  Washington ;  the 
original  is,  or  at  least  was,  in  the  possession  of  the 

1  I  speak  from  recollection  in  calling  these  pilasters  Corinthian. 
3Iy  memorandums  are  silent  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  therefore  not 
impossible  that  I  may  be  wrong. 


260  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

Marquis  of  Lansdown,  and  is  the  same  from  which 
the  beautiful  engraving  by  Heath  was  executed. 

Along  with  the  Capitol  and  the  President's 
House  the  public  offices  were  also  destroyed. 
There  were  at  that  time  only  two,  which  have  been 
rebuilt,  and  other  two  have  been  added ;  they  are 
appropriated  to  the  departments  of  the  treasury, 
state,  navy,  and  war,  and  stand  near  the  Presi- 
dent's House,  two  on  each  side. 

No  less  than  five  libraries  perished  in  that  ill- 
fated  conflagration,  two  of  which  were  of  consider- 
able value.  Many  public  documents  and  some 
curious  papers  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
revolution  were  also  destroyed.  As  a  recom- 
mencement of  a  national  library,  Congress  has 
purchased  from  Mr.  Jefferson  the  whole  of  his 
private  collection,  containing  about  ten  thousand 
volumes.  In  turning  over  a  few  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
books  I  found  a  copy  of  Professor  Dalzel's  Col- 
lectanea Grseca  Majora  which  bore  the  following 
inscription  in  the  autograph  of  the  editor : — 

Ad  virum  honoratissimum 

et  doctissimum 
THDMAM  JEFFERSOX   S.  R.  S.  Edin. 

a  fcederatis  Americae  civitatibus 
ad  Regiam  Majestatem  Christianissimam 

cum  plena  potestate  legatum 
hunc  librum  observationis  causa 

misit 

ANDREAS  DALZEL.  ' 

A  similar  one  appeared  on  the  Minora. 


PATENT  OFFICE.  261 

The  models  in  the  Patent  Office  would  have 
shared  the  fate  of  the  Capitol,  but  for  the  inter- 
cession of  the  person  who  had  charge  of  them. 
He  strenuously  pled  with  our  officers  that  they 
might  be  spared,  representing  that  they  had  no 
relation  to  warlike  affairs,  that  many  of  them  were 
ingenious  and  useful,  and  that  to  destroy  them 
would  be  to  wage  war  against  the  arts,  and  against 
general  improvement.  This  appeal  was  effectual, 
and  the  models  were  left  uninjured.  Its  success 
makes  one  regret  that  no  such  intercession  took 
place  on  behalf  of  the  libraries  and  national  archives, 
to  which  the  same  argument  applied  with  tenfold 
force.  A  gentleman  who  witnessed  the  whole  pro- 
cess of  destruction,  stated  to  me  his  opinion  that 
General  Ross  would  probably  have  been  induced 
to  abstain  from  the  destruction  of  the  Capitol  and 
the  President's  House,  had  suitable  exertions  been 
made  by  the  civil  authorities.  The  whole  of  these 
however,  officers  of  state  and  local  magistrates,  re- 
gardless of  all  but  their  personal  safety,  took  to 
their  heels  by  common  consent,  and  left  the  public 
buildings  to  their  fate.  Old  Anchises  should  have 
shamed  them  all : — 

"  Vos  agitate  fugam  ! 
Me  si  coelicolEE  voluissent  ducere  vitam, 
Has  mihi  servassent  sedes.     Satis  una,  superque. 
Vidimus  excidia,  et  captae  superavimus  urbi." 

The  Patent  Office  exhibits  a  singular  assemblage 


262  LETTER  IX. WASHINGTON. 

of  nicknacks,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  models 
seemed  to  me  to  deserve  no  better  appellation, 
though  I  dare  say  they  are  quite  as  important  as 
many  of  those  useful  inventions  which  are  every 
month  recorded  in  the  corresponding  office  in 
London.  A  boat  was  pointed  out  to  us  which  was 
to  be  propelled  by  machinery,  but  it  unfortunately 
turned  out  that  the  machinery  was  a  sufficient  load 
for  the  boat  without  any  other  cargo.  The  frame 
of  a  tent  bed  made  of  iron  graced  another  shelf; 
but  the  originality  of  the  invention  was  more  than 
questioned  by  some  wag,  who  had  written  on  the 
label  affixed  to  it  *  Og  King  of  Bash  an  had  an 
iron  bedstead.'  Patent  churns  were  numerous  ; 
and  if  you  search  minutely,  patent  cradle -rockers 
and  patent  brooms  may  also  be  discovered.  Our 
conductor  particularized  as  an  invention  of  real 
utility,  a  machine  for  cutting  iron  nails;  the  in- 
troduction of  which  has  completely  superseded, 
throughout  the  United  States,  the  use  of  hammered 
ones. 

The  expense  of  obtaining  a  patent  here  is  only 
thirty  dollars ;  £6,  15s.  sterling.  The  securing 
of  copy  right  is  a  still  cheaper  process.  One  copy 
of  the  book  is  deposited  in  the  Secretary  of  State's 
office,  and  a  fee  of  sixty  cents,  about  half  a  crown, 
is  paid  to  the  clerk  of  the  District  where  the  author 
resides,  for  an  entry  of  the  claim;  another  half 
crown  is  paid  for  a  certified  copy  of  this  entry, 
which  must  be  advertised  for  four  weeks  in  the 


COPY-RIGHT  LAW.  263 

newspapers,  and  copied  at  full  length  on  the  back 
of  the  title  page  of  the  book.  The  term  of  copy- 
right is  fourteen  years,  but  in  the  event  of  the 
author's  surviving,  a  repetition  of  the  same  process 
secures  it  for  other  fourteen.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  cumbrous  and  unnecessary  machinery  in  all  this, 
but  it  is  much  more  favourable  to  authors  and  en- 
terprizing  publishers  than  the  exaction,  as  with  us, 
of  eleven  copies  of  the  work  however  voluminous 
and  expensive.  There  is  one  impolitic  regulation 
on  this  subject ;  an  alien  cannot  hold  copy-right 
until  he  has  resided  in  the  country  at  least  two 
years  at  one  time.  Poor  encouragement  this  for 
an  emigration  of  authors,  to  give  a  start  to  the 
national  literature  !  Not  only  is  an  alien  deprived 
of  the  power  of  personally  holding  copy-right,  he 
cannot  even  convey  a  title  to  another  person.  Were 
the  '  Great  Unknown'  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  to 
continue  the  manufacture  of  his  literary  ware  at 
the  usual  rate  of  three  publications  per  year,  by 
which  he  would  at  home,  according  to  report,  net 
at  least  three  or  four  times  as  many  thousands  of 
pounds  sterling,  for  two  whole  years  he  could  not 
gain  a  dollar  by  his  writings ;  he  might  publish 
them,  but  before  three  days  flew  past,2  two  or  three 

8  Rapidity  of  publication  is  as  well  understood  in  America  as  any 
where.  I  copy  the  following  from  a  New  York  newspaper  wliich 
has  recently  reached  me  (May,  1823) : — 

"  Despatch  in  printing. — The  new  novel,  Peveril  of  the  Peak, 
was  received  from  England  in  NeVv  York  on  Monday  at  Ten  A.  M. 


264  LETTER  IX. WASHINGTON. 

pirated  editions  would  make  their  appearance  with- 
out his  having  it  in  his  power  to  suppress  them. 
There  is  at  least  a  semblance  of  good  policy  in 
most  of  the  American  statutes  respecting  foreign- 
ers, and  by  some  of  them  considerable  advantages 
are  offered  to  emigrants,  but  the  framers  of  this 
law  seem  to  have  regarded  quilldrivers  as  a  race 
by  no  means  likely  to  increase  the  energies  or  re- 
sources of  the  nation ;  and  therefore  as  an  effec- 
tual barrier  to  the  importation  of  such  learned  lum- 
ber, they  have  rendered  them  incapable  of  benefit- 
ing themselves  or  even  of  earning  a  subsistence  by 
their  peculiar  art,  for  two  years  after  their  arrival, 
proclaiming  all  that  they  may  produce  during  this 
period  to  be  lawful  prey  to  depredators  of  every 
kind.  The  same  law  applies  to  patents. 

The  navy  yard,  which  is  about  a  mile  south  east 
of  the  Capitol,  occupies  nearly  forty  acres  of  ground 
on  the  margin  of  a  small  inlet  of  the  eastern  branch 
of  the  river.  Before  visiting  it  I  had  neglected  to 

and  was  printed,  published,  and  sold  on  Tuesday,  within  28  hours 
after  the  same  was  received.  Another  English  copy  of  the  same 
work  was  received  per  the  Custom  House,  New  York,  at  Twelve 
o'clock  on  Wednesday — at  One  o'clock  forwarded  to  Philadelphia 
by  the  mail.  In  Philadelphia  it  was  printed  on  Thursday,  and  on 
Friday  2000  copies  were  put  in  boards  by  Six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  English  copy  of  Moore's  Loves  of  the  Angels  was  taken  out 
of  the  Custom  House  in  New  York  on  a  Monday  in  February  last, 
at  Eleven  o'clock  A.  M.  ;  was  immediately  sent  to  Philadelphia, 
and  250  copies  of  the  work  printed  were  received  at  New  York  on 
Thursday  following  by  Eight  o'clock  A.  M.  and  the  same  copies 
were  sold  and  circulated  that  afternoon." 


NAVY  YARD — MONUMENT. 

provide  myself  with  an  introduction  to  the  com- 
manding officer,  and  reached  the  gate  before  I  re- 
collected that  this  would  be  necessary.  As  the 
only  remaining  chance,  I  walked  boldly  past  the 
sentinel  hoping  to  get  in  unchallenged ;  ere  I  had 
gone  many  paces,  however,  the  serjeant  of  the 
guard  hailed  me,  and  having  ascertained  that  I 
was  an  interloper  ordered  me  to  turn.  I  made  no 
remonstrance,  but  observing  at  ia  short  distance 
from  the  gate  a  marble  monument,  1  asked  and 
obtained  permission  to  inspect  it.  It  proved  to 
be  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  some  Ameri- 
can naval  officers,  who  fell  several  years  ago  in  an 
attack  on  Tripoli.  It  consists  of  a  column  upon  a 
square  base,  surmounted  with  an  eagle  and  sur- 
rounded by  allegorical  figures  as  large  as  life.  The 
shaft  of  the  column  bears  the  beak  and  stern  of 
three  vessels  of  the  antique  form,  projecting  from 
it  at  equal  distances  from  each  other.  The  figures 
are  allegorical  of  History,  Fame,  Commerce,  and 
America.  History  is  in  the  act  of  recording  on 
her  tablet  the  heroic  achievements  of  the  departed 
warriors ;  Fame  has  mounted  upon  the  base  to 
crown  them  with  laurel ;  Mercury  carrying  the 
cornucopiae,  as  the  representative  of  Commerce, 
bewails  their  untimely  fate ;  and  Columbia,  a  beau- 
tiful female  decorated  with  feathers,  is  pointing 
two  little  chubby  boys,  one  of  whom  carries  the 
Roman  fasces,  to  the  commemorative  device.  On 
the  front  of  the  base  is  a  sculptured  basso  relievo 
VOL.  i.  z 


266  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

representation  of  the  bombardment.  The  other 
three  sides  are  occupied  with  inscriptions;  one 
contains  the  names  of  those  who  fell,  another  inti- 
mates that  the  monument  was  erected  by  their 
brother  officers,  and  on  the  third  is  inscribed — 

FAME    HAS    CROWNED    THEIR    DEEDS, 

HISTORY    RECORDS   THE    EVENT, 

THE  CHILDREN  OF  COLUMBIA  ADMIRE, 

AND    COMMERCE    LAMENTS    THEIR    FALL. 

This  last  inscription  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  su- 
perfluous, for  the  art  of  the  sculptor  is  worth  no- 
thing if  it  cannot  suggest  the  same  ideas  more 
expressively  than  words.  The  monument  was 
executed  in  Italy  and  is  very  beautiful,  but  the 
spectator  regrets  to  observe  that  the  fingers  of 
some  of  the  figures  have  been  broken  off.  We 
are  not  left  in  doubt  as  to  the  perpetrators  of  this 
outrage,  for  a  small  square  tablet  bears  the  morti- 
fying information — 

MUTILATED 

BY   BRITONS, 

25TH    AUGUST,    1814. 

This  inscription  might  also  have  been  spared. 
It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  some  of  our  soldiers, 
in  the  wantonness  of  victory,  may  have  been  the 
guilty  individuals,  for  the  monuments  in  West- 
minster Abbey  abundantly  manifest  the  propensity 
which  prevails  in  the  inferior  classes  of  our  country- 


SENATE HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      267 

men  to  similar  acts  of  vandalism ;  many  of  the 
smaller  figures  there,  have  been  deprived  not  only 
of  their  fingers,  but  of  their  heads,  and  the 
real  cause  of  wonder  with  respect  to  this  one  is, 
not  that  so  much  but  that  so  little  mischief  was 
done.  The  person  who  ordered  the  inscription, 
however,  should  have  reflected  that  it  immediately 
suggests  the  question  "  How  came  '  Britons'  to  be 
here  ?"  and  it  is  possible,  if  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is  followed  up  by  others  which  naturally  oc- 
cur, that  the  disgrace  of  allowing  the  fingers  to  be 
taken  off,  might  eventually  appear  to  be  at  least  as 
great  as  that  of  having  done  it.  A  few  years  hence, 
nothing  could  have  been  seen  in  Washington  to 
remind  a  visitor  of  its  having  been  once  in  an  ene- 
my's hands,  but  so  long  as  this  monument  remains 
in  its  present  state,  the  humiliating  fact  is  conspi- 
cuously recorded. 

Postscript,  February,   1819. 

A  second  visit  to  this  city  has  given  me  an  op- 
portunity of  visiting  Congress,  which  was  not  in 
session  when  I  was  here  formerly. 

The  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  meet 
at  present  in  plain  brick  buildings  close  by  the 
Capitol,  where  temporary  halls  have  been  fitted 
up  for  them.  The  galleries  of  both  houses  are 
open  to  every  person  ;  I  found  in  them  auditors  of 
every  description,  workmen  without  their  coats  in 
one  place,  and  elegantly  dressed  females  in  an- 
Z2 


268  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

other.  The  utmost  quietness  and  decorum  however 
prevailed. 

The  President  of  the  Senate  wears  no  costume ; 
he  appeared  in  a  blue  coat  with  gilt  buttons,  and 
occupied  a  plain  elbow  chair  with  a  small  canopy 
over  it.  Each  senator  has  a  writing  desk  before 
him,  and  many  of  them  were  either  writing  letters 
or  reading  newspapers.  They  were  all  in  plain 
dresses,  and  many  wore  jockey  boots. 

I  found  the  Senate  discussing  the  propriety  of 
making  compensation  to  a  British  subject  in  Upper 
Canada,  for  a  small  vessel  which  had  been  cap- 
tured by  an  American  cruiser  on  Lake  Ontario, 
before  the  declaration  of  war.  The  vessel  had 
been  sold,  and  the  proceeds  paid  to  the  clerk  of  one 
of  the  Districts  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  await 
the  decision  of  a  court ;  the  court  decided  that  the 
capture  was  illegal  and  ordered  restitution,  but  in 
the  mean  time  the  clerk  had  become  a  defaulter 
and  eloped.  A  bill  ^had  in  consequence  been 
brought  into  the  Senate,  containing  a  provision 
for  making  good  to  the  owner  of  the  vessel  the 
sum  which  he  had  thus  lost.  Various  individuals 
spoke  shortly  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  Some 
opposed  the  bill,  on  the  footing  that  the  individual 
aggrieved  ought  to  have  recourse  upon  the  legal 
securities  of  the  District  Clerk,  and  said  that  it 
would  be  giving  to  a  British  subject  an  advantage 
which  would  not  have  been  conceded  to  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States.  I  had  however  the  pleasure 


SENATE — HOUSE    OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       269 

of  hearing  the  Hon.  Rufus  King,  one  of  the  sena- 
tors for  the  State  of  New  York,  speak  warmly  in 
favour  of  the  bill.  He  said  that  the  nation  was 
bound  in  honour  to  make  good  to  a  foreigner  the 
decision  of  the  court ;  that  in  similar  circumstances 
an  American  citizen  would  have  most  certainly 
obtained  redress  in  Great  Britain,  and  that  he 
had  never  known  an  instance  of  such  a  decision 
there,  in  which  prompt  and  ample  compensation 
had  not  been  made.  The  question  was  ultimately 
carried  in  the  affirmative.3 

The  house  of  Representatives  was  in  committee, 
and  I  found  Mr.  Sargeant  of  Philadelphia  conclud- 
ing a  long  speech,  which  had  been  begun  the  pre- 
ceding day,  on  the  subject  of  the  United  States' 
Bank.  A  committee,  which  had  been  appointed  to 
investigate  some  alleged  misconduct  on  the  part  of 
the  Bank  Directors,  had  reported  an  opinion  to 
the  House  that  the  charter  of  the  Bank  had  been 
violated,  and  consequently  forfeited  entirely.  Mr. 
Sargeant  combated  this  opinion,  and  was  arguing 
while  I  was  present,  that  although  the  facts  were 
proved  to  be  exactly  as  the  committee  had  reported, 
the  charter  was  still  good,  for  such  delinquencies 
had  all  been  provided  for  in  that  charter,  and 

3  The  bill  alluded  to  was  afterwards  thrown  out  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  consequence,  as  a  member  of  the  house  told  me, 
of  it  being  somehow  or  other  informal.  I  cannot  help  suspecting 
however,  that  disinclination  to  the  object  of  the  bill  was  the  true 
cause. 

Z    3 


270  LETTER  IX. WASHINGTON. 

specific  penalties  attached  to  them ;  the  penalties  he 
said  were  incurred,  but  the  charter  was  still  per- 
fectly valid.  I  left  this  gentleman  speaking,  and 
his  opinion  in  the  end  prevailed. 

The  aspect  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is 
still  less  dignified  than  that  of  the  Senate.  The 
house  was  pretty  full,  but  many  of  the  members 
were  lounging  beside  the  fire  reading  newspapers, 
others  were  clustering  round  the  windows,  and  few 
even  of  those  who  remained  at  their  desks  were 
attending  to  the  orator,  most  of  the  others  being 
busily  engaged  in  writing  letters,  and  some  carefully 
weighing  them  to  ascertain  that  the  enclosures  did 
not  exceed  the  weight  which  their  franks  covered. 
In  the  House  of  Commons,  it  struck  me  that  the 
members  showed  a  good  deal  of  indifference  to  the 
discussions  which  were  going  forward;  the  triple 
bows  of  the  wigged  messengers  between  the  door 
and  the  bar,  seemed  sufficiently  childish;  the 
peremptory  order  of  the  Speaker,  '  strangers  with- 
draw,' somewhat  uncivil  to  strangers ;  the  confu- 
sion which  took  place  in  clearing  the  gallery,  and 
the  elbowing  and  pushing  at  filling  it  again,  not 
a  little  annoying  and  vexatious ;  but  after  all  there 
is  more  senatorial  decorum  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons than  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It 
appeared  singular  that  so  many  members  should 
attend  the  debates  while  so  few  seemed  to  be  in- 
terested in  them,  and  I  thought  that  those  whose 
legislative  exertions  were  confined  to  gazing  out  at 


CONGRESS  AND  PARLIAMENT. 

the  window,  or  toasting  their  toes  at  the  fire, 
might  with  more  propriety  so  enjoy  themselves  at 
home.  I  have  since  learned  from  a  member  of 
the  House,  as  some  explanation  of  this,  that  in 
place  of  forty  members  constituting  a  quorum  as 
in  our  House  of  Commons,  it  requires  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number.  The  total  number  of  members,  which 
is  increasing  every  year,  is  at  present  118,  conse- 
quently at  least  59  must  be  assembled  at  every 
deliberation,  and  as  a  great  many  subjects  are 
necessarily  of  a  local  nature  and  interesting  to 
very  few,  it  is  no  wonder  that  many  should  avail 
themselves  of  the  newspapei's,  or  of  pen  and  ink, 
*  to  give  time  a  shove.'  The  question  which  I 
heard  discussed  was  one  that  regarded  the  exist- 
ence of  the  national  bank,  which  had  been  estab- 
lished but  two  or  three  years  before,  chiefly  with 
a  view  to  facilitate  the  financial  operations  of  go- 
vernment ;  and  in  which  a  great  deal  of  money  had 
been  made  and  lost,  by  sudden  and  unprecedented 
fluctuations  in  the  value  of  its  stock,  which  after 
rising  from  100  to  upwards  of  150,  had  recently 
fallen  to  93.  It  was  however  no  way  surprising  that 
they  should  be  tired  of  a  speech  which  had  lasted 
two  days,  and  that  on  a  subject  which  had  en- 
grossed a  great  part  of  the  session,  to  very  little 
purpose ;  the  oratoi',  is  esteemed  one  of  the  ablest 
men  in  the  house,  but  an  animated  debate  is  one 
thing,  and  a  lecture  another.  Instances  are  not 


272  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

wanting  of  members  occupying  the  floor  for  three 
successive  days ;  the  house  adjourning  when  they 
get  tired,  to  resume  the  thread  of  discourse  the 
following  day.  The  writing  desks  are  bad  things, 
were  it  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  encour- 
age indolence  and  inattention  ;  the  benches  of  the 
House  of  Commons  scarcely  admit  of  lounging ; 
besides  it  is  to  speak  and  not  to  write  that  the 
members  are  sent  to  Congress. 

It  would  not  however  be  fair  to  try  the  American 
Congress  by  a  comparison  with  the  British  Parlia- 
ment. There  is  little  similarity  either  in  the  ma- 
terials or  in  the  manner  of  their  construction.  In 
America,  a  young,  thinly  peopled,  and  republican 
country,  almost  every  person  is  engaged  in  the 
active  business  of  life,  and  the  equality  of  succession 
to  property,  and  the  necessarily  frequent  division 
of  it,  prevents  almost  entirely  the  accumulation  of 
large  fortunes.  A  great  proportion  of  those  who 
compose  her  representative  assemblies  are  men  of 
no  wealth  and  sometimes  of  little  education,  many 
of  them  second  rate  lawyers,  others  merchants,  well 
stored  with  commercial  information,  and  a  few  who 
find  a  seat  in  Congress  a  convenient  thing  were  it  on- 
ly for  the  salary  which  is  connected  with  it.4  Great 

4  Eight  dollars,  thirty  six  shillings  sterling,  for  every -day  that 
Congress  sits,  with  an  allowance  of  the  same  sum  for  every  twenty 
miles  that  the  member  has  to  travel  to  and  from  Wasliington.  A 
seat  in  Congress  is  worth  rather  more  than  two  hundred  pounds 
sterling  a  year. 


CONGRESS    AND    PARLIAMENT.  273 

Britain  on  the  other  hand  is  an  old  country,  over- 
flowing with  population,  where  a  monarchy,  heredi- 
tary nobility,  and  feudal  tenures,  are  necessarily 
connected  with  large  fortunes,  and  with  the  entire 
leisure  of  their  possessors  for  legislative  or  other 
pursuits  ;  a  country  where  many  receive  an  educa- 
tion expressly  intended  to  qualify  them  for  the 
service  of  the  state,  and  where  many  members  of 
the  representative  assembly,  so  far  from  requiring  a 
stipendiary  compensation  for  their  attendance,  are 
able  to  expend  immense  sums  in  procuring  their 
election.  Yet  with  all  these  disadvantages  the 
wisdom  and  integrity  of  the  American  Congress 
have  ere  now  put  to  shame  the  more  practised  politi- 
cians of  Europe,  and  her  diplomatic  agents  have 
often  evinced  themselves  more  than  a  match  for  the 
starred  and  titled  plenipotentiaries  of  our  own  and 
other  countries.5 

s  In  a  review  in  the  North  American  of  Tomline's  Life  of  Pitt, 
some  remarks  occur  on  the  usages  of  Parliament  and  Congress  which 
I  doubt  not  will  interest  the  reader.  The  article  alluded  to  is  written 
with  much  candour  and  good  sense,  and  the  reviewer  expresses  him  • 
self  respecting  George  III.  and  his  favourite  minister,  in  terms  of 
kindliness  and  approbation  which  we  should  hardly  have  expected  from 
a  republican  critic.  In  alluding  to  the  King's  letters  he  says,  "  we 
think  the  character  of  a  monarch  who  could  manifest  such  undeviating 
firmness,  such  remarkable  good  sense,  and  such  devotedness  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  country,  deserves  to  be  recorded  and  published^"  On 
Parliament  he  makes  the  following  observations  : — 

"  We  cannot  but  observe  that  the  habit  of  offering  exaggerated  and 
unmeaning  commendation  to  talents  and  learning,  has  been  long 
practised  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  abounds  especially  with 
those  who  are  politically  opposed,  and  whose  measures  are  at  the  same 


274  LETTER    IX. WASHINGTON. 

The  building  of  the  Capitol  has  advanced  so 
considerably  since  the  period  of  my  former  visit, 
that  several  apartments  in  the  right  wing  have  been 
finished,  and  one  of  them  is  now  occupied  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

This  Court  is  almost  the  only  one  which  has 
adopted  an  official  costume ;  in  all  the  inferior  courts 
throughout  the  country,  except  I  believe  those  of 
South  Carolina,  the  judges  are  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  counsel  or  the  jury,  only  by  their  position 

time  the  subject  of  violent,  and,  to  our  feelings,  unbecoming  crimina- 
tion and  condemnation.  Neither  of  these  habits  is  to  be  observed  in 
the  same  degree  in  the  debates  of  the  American  Congress.  Part  of 
this  difference  may  be  accounted  for,  from  the  circumstance  that  as 
the  government  has  no  representative,  no  minister  in  either  branch  of 
Congress,  the  principal  cause  and  stimulant  of  personal  censure  or 
compliment  do  not  exist ;  for  one  naturally  leads  to  the  other. 

"  There  are  several  peculiarities  in  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons, that  procure  vast  facilities  and  advantages  to  individuals  en- 
dowed with  great  talents.  The  first  peculiarity  is,  that  the  discussion 
is  confined  exclusively  to  half  a  score  of  members,  for  during  the 
great  debates  to  wliich  we  have  referred  in  this  article,  seldom  more 
than  that  number  took  a  part.  It  is  true  that  occasionally  there  starts 
up  in  these  debates  a  new  member,  who  makes  what  the  reporters 
call  a  maiden  speech,  which  is  heard  with  great  attention,  reported 
with  great  care,  and  then,  in  all  probability,  the  name  and  the  voice 
are  for  ever  lost,  amidst  the  din  and  shouts  of  the  chiefs  of  the  epic. 
In  those  maiden  speeches  we  have  observed  that  the,  most  fatal 
symptoms  are  well  set  and  well  prepared  sentences  and  periods, 
certain  moral  truisms,  and  frequent  references  to  the  Greeks  and 
Romans.  Such  symptoms  are  commonly  mortal.  But  unless  these 
members  speak  with  promise,  they  are  heard  a  second  time  with  great 
indifference,  and  finally  scraped  and  groaned  down,  if  the  less  positive 
expression  of  the  feeling  of  the  house,  by  one  half  the  members  going 
into  the  coffee  rooms,  and  the  other  half  going  to  sleep,  is  not  accom- 


SUPREME    COURT.  275 

on  the  bench.  This  is  probably  a  point  on  which 
the  Americans  have  mistaken  the  reverse  of  wrong 

O 

for  right.  It  was  all  very  well  to  lay  aside  the  an- 
tiquated and  grotesque  wig,  which  buries  the  intel- 
lectual organ  under  curls  and  pomatum,  but  to  strip 
the  administrator  of  justice  of  every  distinctive  garb, 
was  depriving  the  judicial  office  of  an  accessory  which 
has  a  very  powerful  influence  on  the  human  mind. 
The  Supreme  Court  is  composed  of  five  judges, 
and  I  found  them  like  the  House  of  Representatives 

parried  by  a  prompt  obedience.  Whatever  advantages  may  attend  the 
practice  of  allowing  the  Commons  to  select  their  own  orator,  it  has 
an  air  of  great  rudeness ;  and  we  are  able  to  account  for  it  in  no 
other  way,  than  by  supposing  that  it  was  first  exercised  under  some  of 
the  arbitrary  sovereigns  to  stifle  those  who  were  obnoxious  to  their 
censure.  No  such  custom  existed  during  the  Commonwealth,  and  as 
many  members  spoke  then  as  now  in  our  Congress. 

"  A  good  deal  also  may  be  learned  from  the  constitution  of  the 
house.  Many  members  are  sent  there  merely  to  vote,  who  would  pro- 
bably greatly  displease  their  patrons  if  they  should  attempt  to  speak. 
Many  who  spend  great  sums  to  obtain  seats  have  no  constituents,  and 
an  M.  P.  is  only  serviceable  to  such  persons  for  the  purpose  of  frank- 
ing letters,  of  adding  a  little  to  their  distinction  and  dignity  in  draw- 
ing rooms  and  at  dinner  parties,  and  as  being  one  proof,  besides  the 
right  to  carry  a  gun,  that  a  man  is  a  gentleman.  And  after  all, 
this  is  one  of  the  least  expensive  modes  which  an  Englishman  adopts 
to  prove  his  claims  to  that  condition.  Men  seldom  go  to  Parliament 
for  the  mere  purpose  of  speaking  for  their  constituents,  inasmuch  as 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  have  constituents  in  a  more 
enlarged  sense  than  the  members  of  the  American  Congress,  because 
from  the  circumstances  of  our  country,  there  is  a  much  greater  variety 
of  interests  in  it  requiring  more  specific  representation.  It  often 
happens,  however,  that  instructions  are  sent  in  relation  to  certain  pri- 
vileges and  customs,  by  virtue  of  which  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  are  forced  to  speak  ;  as  was  most  particularly  the  case  in 


276  LETTER    IX. — WASHINGTON. 

engaged  upon  the  subject  of  the  United  States' 
Bank.  This  national  establishment  is  by  no  means 
popular  throughout  the  Union,  and  some  of  the 
State  legislatures  imposed  a  very  heavy  tax  upon 
the  branches  which  were  established  by  it  within 
their  jurisdiction.  The  payment  of  this  tax  was 
resisted  by  the  Directors,  and  the  question  as  to  the 
right  of  the  local  governments  to  impose  it,  came 
before  this  court  in  the  form  of  an  appeal.  During 

relation  to  the  Slave  trade.  There  is,  notwithstanding,  as  \ve  observed 
above,  a  class  of  members  whose  sole  object  is  the  honour  and  dignity 
of  a  seat  in  Parliament  They  care  little  in  what  way  they  get  there ; 
and  being  there,  have  no  particular  constituents,  whose  interests  they 
are  called  to  defend.  They  have  not  as  with  us  each  thirty  five 
thousand  constituents  who  can  reward  them  with  their  approbation 
and  often  with  State  offices,  whereby  such  weight  is  acquired  at  home, 
that  the  national  government  is  forced  to  extend  its  patronage  to 
them  : — by  which  circuitous  process  many  a  member  of  Congress, 
who  would  be  immediately  defeated  on  the  floor  of  the  house  in  any 
attempt  to  gain  influence  by  taking  an  active  part  in  the  debates,  is 
still  enabled  by  means  of  long  speeches  painfully  composed  and 
delivered,  and  diligently  printed  and  distributed  through  the  post 
office,  to  acquire  or  sustain  that  popularity  among  his  constituents* 
which  shall  send  him  up  to  the  executive  government,  clothed  in  all  the 
importance  of  a  powerful  local  interest. 

"  Another  peculiarity  of  the  English  House  of  Commons  is,  that  a 
division  takes  place  every  night ;  and  though  such  a  subject  as  the 
Missouri  question  might  be  renewed  for  twenty  nights  successive- 
ly in  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  nation,  yet  there  is  always  a 
certain  degree  of  variety,  freshness  and  animation,  produced  by  a 
knowledge  that  a  decision  is  about  to  take  place.  This  peculiarity 
is  a  consequence  of  that  which  we  have  mentioned.  The  third  pecu- 
liarity is,  and  it  is  one  which  will  always  make  greater  orators  than  w  e 
are  likely  to  have  in  this  country,  because  they  will  always  have  more 
experience,  that  men  of  great  promise  and  ambition  can  enter  the 
4 


SUPREME    COURT.  277 

the  few  minutes  that  I  spent  here  I  heard  some  ar- 
guments, by  the  counsel  for  the  State  which  had 
imposed  the  tax,  in  support  of  its  right  to  do  so. 
He  argued  that  by  the  Federal  compact  the  vari- 
ous States  had  relinquished  in  favour  of  the  general 
government  only  the  rights  of  levying  importation 
and  exportation  duties,  of  making  war  and  peace, 
and  of  coining  money  ;  but  that  they  still  retained 
and  daily  exercised  the  power  of  imposing  internal 
taxes,  and  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  constitution 

House  of  Commons  at  the  age  of  twenty  one,  an  age  at  wliich  an  in- 
dividual seldom  can  enter  even  a  State  legislature  in  this  country. 
Fox  was  chosen  to  the  house  before  he  was  twenty,  Pitt  before  he 
was  twenty  two. 

"  Again,  Parliament  is  a  profession,  and  a  man  becomes  as  skilful 
and  as  much  attached  to  it  as  to  that  vocation  by  wliich  he  earns  his 
bread.  The  distinguished  men  in  the  House  of  Commons,  remain 
there  twenty  and  thirty  years,  and  many  of  them  as  long  as  they  live. 
The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  they  not  only  become  greater  men 
themselves,  but  learn  to  do  the  business  of  the  nation  with  greater 
despatch.  We  believe  that  the  members  from  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina  remain  in  Congress  longer  than  those  from  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  where  an  opposite  policy,  either  arising  from  the  caprice 
of  the  people,  or  the  circumstances  of  the  candidate,  prevails  to  a 
fatal  degree."  North  American  Review  No.  XXXIV.  pp.  157, 
189,  190. 

By  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  every  thirty  thousand  free 
citizens  are  entitled  to  send  one  member  to  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, who  must  be  at  least  twenty  five  years  of  age,  and  holds  his  seat 
for  two  years.  Qualifications  for  voting  vary  in  the  different  States  • 
in  that  of  New  York,  every  one  possessed  of  a  freehold  of  the  value 
of  50  Dollars,  .£11,  5s.  sterling,  or  occupying  a  tenement  of  the 
annual  rent  of  forty  shillings  currency,  that  is  22s.  6d.  sterling,  is 
entitled  to  vote.  This  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  universal 
suffrage. 

VOL.  I.  A  a 


278  LETTER    IX. WASHINGTON. 

of  the  United  States'  Bank  which  freed  it  from  the 
operation  of  this  right.  I  did  not  remain  to  hear 
the  speakers  on  the  opposite  side,  but  the  de- 
cision was.  ultimately  given  in  favour  of  the  bank.6 
In  an  adjoining  room  is  at  present  exhibited 
Colonel  Trumbull's7  painting  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  This  is  one  of  a  series  of  his- 
torical paintings  commemorative  of  the  Revolution, 
which  Congress  has  commissioned  this  artist  to 
execute  for  the  purpose  of  adorning  the  new  Capi- 
tol. In  commemorating  the  event  which  gave  birth 
to  this  great  republic,  the  painter  has  placed  be- 
fore us  most  of  the  individuals  who  composed  the 
general  Congress,  by  which  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence was  decreed  and  published;  and  the 

6  An    article  in   the  North  American  Review   makes   reference 
to  tliis  decision  in  the  following  terms: — "  The  first  question  was 
whether  Congress  had  the  power  to  incorporate  a  bank,  and  in  the 
discussion  of  it,  the  incidental  and  derivative  powers  of  Congress,  the 
choics  of  means  and  their  adaptation  to  the  ends  proposed,  were  fully 
esamined,  and  the  court  determined  that  the  creation  of  a  banking 
corporation,  was  a  proper  and  fit  instrument  for  carrying  on  the  fis- 
cal operations  of  the  government. — The  court  having  determined  that 
Congress  had  the  power  to  erect  a  bank,  and  this  power  being  neces- 
sarily supreme,  it  followed  that  a  power  to  create  implied  a  power  to 
preserve ;  the  unlimited  power  of  a  State  to  tax  was  a  power  to  de- 
stroy ;  and  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  being  inconsistent  with  the 
preserving  power,  it  could  not  coexist  with  it,  but  must  yield  to  that 
power   which  was  in  its  nature  sovereign  and  supreme."      North 
American  Review  No.  XXVI.  pp.  110,  111. 

7  This  gentleman  carried  arms  in   the  early  part  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  and  his  father,  who  was  then  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  was  distinguished  by  his  efficient  exertions  in  the  same 
cause.      Before  the  conclusion  of  the  struggle  the  son  quitted  the 


TRUMBULl/S    PAINTING.  279 

committee  which  was  appointed  to  frame  the  docu- 
ment, in  the  act  of  presenting  the  draught  at  the 
table.  I  am  no  judge  of  such  compositions,  and 
may  therefore  be  guilty  of  presumption  in  express- 
ing any  opinion,  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
the  painter  might  have  selected  a  more  interesting 
period  of  time  in  this  great  transaction.  The  pic- 
ture indeed  cannot  be  said  to  represent  the  declara- 
tion of  independence,  for  though  the  instrument 
had  been  drawn  up,  it  had  not  yet  been  adopted, 
much  less  made  public.  The  great  object  has  been 
to  get  together  into  one  group  the  portraits  of  those 
self-devoted  men,  who  were  the  principal  actors  in 
this  event;  but  in  effecting  this  the  result  is  really 
calculated  by  its  total  want  of  epic  grandeur  to 

army  and  went  to  London,  to  study  painting  under  his  distinguished 
countryman  the  late  President  West.  Here  he  was  arrested  under 
suspicion  of  being  a  spy  and  committed  to  the  Tower.  The  follow- 
ing anecdote  respecting  his  confinement,  which  I  transcribe  from 
Professor  Silliman's  Travels  in  England,  deserves  to  be  universally 
known.  It  is  given  in  Colonel  Trumbull's  own  words. 

"  I  was  arrested  at  12  o'clock  at  night  of  the  19th  November, 
1780,  in  London,  on  suspicion  of  treason — I  was  then  principally 
occupied  in  studying  the  art  of  painting  under  Mr.  West.  Mr. 
West  well  knew  that  his  attachment  to  his  native  country  gave  of- 
fence to  some  individuals  who  were  about  the  King's  person.  He 
therefore  went  the  next  morning  early,  to  Buckingham  house,  and 
requested  an  audience  of  the  King  ;  it  was  granted,  and  he  proceeded 
to  state  the  origin  and  nature  of  his  acquaintance  with  me,  conclud- 
ing that  whatever  might  have  been  my  conduct  in  America,  he 
could  conscientiously  state  to  his  Majesty,  that  since  my  arrival  in 
London  the  principal  part  of  almost  every  day  had  been  passed  un- 
der his  roof,  and  indeed  under  his  eye,  in  the  assiduous  study  of 
.  his  profession,  leaving  little  or  no  time  for  any  pursuit  hostile  to  the 
Aa2 


280  LETTER    IX. WASHINGTON. 

remind  us  somewhat  of  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield's 
family  picture.  To  the  left  of  the  canvass  in  the 
foreground  is  seated  the  President,  John  Hancock, 
immediately  before  him  is  the  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Adams,  Livingstone, 
and  Sherman,  the  last  of  whom  is  in  the  quaker 
garb,  and  Jefferson  is  in  the  act  of  laying  the  scroll 
upon  the  table;  to  the  right  and  in  the  back  ground 
are  the  other  members  of  Congress,  most  of  them 
seated,  and  all  as  demure  as  if  they  had  been  as- 
sembled to  attend  a  funeral.  No  opportunity  was 
nfforded  in  such  a  scene  for  the  delineation  of 
character,  or  the  representation  of  animated  ac- 
tion and  intense  emotion.  The  painter  was  not 

interests  of  Great  Britain.  The  King  after  a  moment's  hesitation, 
made  this  answer  :  '  Mr.  West — I  have  known  you  long ;  I  have 
confided  in  you  ;  I  have  never  known  you  to  mislead  me ;  I  there- 
fore repose  implicit  confidence  in  this  representation.  This  young 
gentleman  must  in  the  mean  time  suffer  great  anxiety  ;  he  is  in  the 
power  of  the  law,  and  I  cannot  at  present  interfere.  But  go  to  him, 
and  assure  him  from  me,  that  in  the  worst  possible  legal  result,  he 
has  my  royal  word  that  his  life  is  safe. '  Mr.  West  came  to  me  with 
this  message  immediately,  and  you  may  well  believe  that  it  softened 
essentially  the  rigours  of  an  imprisonment  of  eight  months."  Pro- 
fessor Silliman  adds, — "  If  you  consider  who  was  the  King's  pri- 
soner, that  he  was  in  his  view  a  rebel,  and  had  just  come  from 
fighting  in  an  elevated  station  against  him ;  that  his  father  was  a  most 
active  and  efficient  head  of  one  of  the  most  actively  and  inveterately 
rebellious  States,  I  think  you  will  allow  that  the  King's  answer, 
which  amounted  to  this — "  should  the  courts  of  law  condemn  him  to 
death,  I  will  save  his  life  by  a  pardon,"— constitutes  one  of  the  finest 
passages  of  kingly  history,  and  could  never  have  proceeded  from  a 
little  mind." — Silliman  s  Travels  in  England,  3d  Edit.  Vol.  I.  p. 
241. 


TRUMBULL'S  PAINTING — CHURCHES.       281 

allowed  to  give  scope  to  his  imagination ;  for  the 
event  was  too  recent,  the  room  in  which  it  took 
place  too  plain,  and  too  well  known,  and  the  meet- 
ing of  a  deliberative  assembly  altogether  too  com- 
mon-place a  subject,  for  any  considerable  devia- 
tion from  historical  truth.  The  real  value  of  the 
picture  consists  in  the  portraits,  all  of  which  are 
believed  to  be  authentic ;  most  of  them  Mr.  Trum- 
bull  executed  from  life,  for  he  began  to  collect  the 
requisite  materials  many  years  ago,  and  the  rest 
he  copied  from  pictures  believed  to  be  accurate. 
Of  the  portraits  of  a  small  number  of  those  who 
composed  the  Congress  no  trace  could  be  dis- 
covered, and  these  are  therefore  not  introduced.8 
The  size  of  the  picture  is  eighteen  feet  by  twelve. 

As  to  the  state  of  religion  in  Washington  I  can 
give  you  but  little  information;  I  have  not  hap- 
pened to  spend  a  Sabbath  in  it.  There  are  two 
Episcopalian  churches,  one  Presbyterian,  one  As- 
sociate Synod,  two  Baptist,  two  Methodist,  one 
Quaker,  and  one  Romish.  The  Popish  chapel  is 
dedicated  to  St.  Patrick ;  it  is  a  small  building  and 
somewhat  paltry,  but  I  saw  in  it  a  beautiful  white 

8  Of  the  fifty  six  individuals,  whose  signatures  are  affixed  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  only  the  following  five  were  living 
wliile  I  was  in  America ;  so  far  as  I  know  the  number  has  not  been 
subsequently  reduced : 

Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia. 
John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts. 
Charles  Carroll,  of  Maryland. 
William  Floyd,  of  New  York. 
William  Ellery,  of  Rhode  Island. 
A  a  3 


282  LETTER  IX. — WASHINGTON. 

marble  font  for  holy  water  which  has  lately  arrived 
from  Italy.  .  Standing  within  the  basin  is  a  figure 
of  St.  Patrick  about  twelve  inches  in  height,  wear- 
ing the  mitre  and  sacerdotal  vestments,  and  in  the 
attitude  of  pronouncing  a  benediction  on  the  water. 
The  execution  is  beautiful,  and  we  cannot  but  re- 
gret that  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  fine  arts  should 
be  so  frequently  pressed  into  the  degrading  service 
of  this  system  of  delusion. 

Of  society  and  manners  here  I  know  almost 
nothing,  for  both  my  visits  have  been  very  short. 
Respecting  public  chai'acters  I  must  be  equally 
silent,  for  none  have  been  pointed  out  to  me  ex- 
cept Commodores  Decatur 9  and  Rodgers.  They 
are  both  plain  looking  men,  and  were  not  in  uni- 
form when  I  met  them.  Commodore  Rodgers' 
affair  with  the  Little  Belt,  before  the  commence- 
ment of  last  war,  has  given  us  an  idea  that  he  is  a 
man  of  more  bluster  than  bravery;  Americans 
however  say  that  we  are  mistaken,  and  that  during 
the  war  while  commanding  a  fifty  gun  frigate,  he 
actually  hove  to,  and  offered  battle  to  a  British 
seventy  four  gun  ship,  which  she  declined ; — I  can- 
not help  however  doubting  the  accuracy  of  this 
story. 

9  This  brave  officer  has  fallen  in  a  duel  since  my  return.  That 
detestable  practice  is  lamentably  prevalent  in  America,  and  is  some- 
times accompanied  with  circumstances  of  peculiar  barbarity.  In 
going  the  second  time  to  Washington,  I  passed  the  ground  where  a 
duel  was  fought  but  a  week  or  two  before,  with  muskets,  at  ten 
paces  distance  ;  the  one  party  was  shot  dead  on  the  spot,  the  other 
dreadfully  mangled,  and  I  believe  afterwards  died. 


LETTER  X. 


LETTER    X. 

WOODEN    BRIDGE ALEXANDRIA EVENTS    OF    LAST    WAR VISIT 

TO    MOUNT    VERNON MANSION    HOUSE WASHINGTON'S  TOMB 

ATTEMPT  TO  STEAL    HIS    BODY PROPOSAL    OF  REMOVING  IT 

TO     THE     CAPITOL KEY     OF    THE    BASTILE  EARTHEN-WARE 

MINIATURE  OF  WASHINGTON FORT  WASHINGTON A  VIRGINIA 

BARBECUE. 

Alexandria,  September,  1818. 

THE  secluded  spots  where  men  of  historical  cele- 
brity have  spent  their  hours  of  rural  or  of  literary 
retirement,  have  ever  been  objects  of  interest  to 
the  traveller.  A  powerful  principle  in  our  nature 
impels  us  to  seek  a  kind  of  personal  familiarity, 
with  those  scenes  which  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  more  distinguished  individuals  of  our  race ;  to 
which  they  hastened  for  relaxation  from  the  fatigues 
of  public  life,  and  where  they  sought  and  found  a 
solace  amid  all  its  disquietudes.  The  Sabine  farm 
and  the  Tusculan  villa  have  awakened  the  enthu- 
siasm of  many  a  classical  wanderer,  and  could  the 
field  be  identified  in  which  Cincinnatus  was  drag- 
ged away  from  the  unfinished  furrow,  to  drive 
back  destruction  from  his  country's  gate,  how 
would  the  heart  of  the  patriot  bound  within  him 
as  he  paced  its  surface,  and  recalled  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  unambitious  Dictator  returned 


286  LETTER  X. ALEXANDRIA. 

to  the  plough !  The  classic  'soil  of  Italy  it  may 
never  be  my  favoured  lot  to  tread;  but  America 
can  boast  of  a  hero  second  to  none  of  Greek  or 
Roman  fame,  and  who  could  land  upon  its  shores 
without  the  eager  desire  to  visit  Mount  Vernon  ? 

This  beautiful  spot  is  about  ten  miles  below 
Alexandria,  on  the  banks  of  the  Potowmak.  In 
leaving  the  Federal  city  the  traveller  crosses  the 
main  branch  of  the  river  by  a  wooden  bridge,  very 
nearly  a  mile  in  length.  This  is  a  simpler  erection 
than  the  bridges  over  the  Schuylkill ;  it  has  no  roof, 
and  consists  of  a  floor  of  planks,  supported  upon 
piles,  and  level  from  end  to  end.  A  portion  of  it 
suspended  in  the  form  of  a  drawbridge  at  the  deep- 
est part  of  the  channel,  admits  of  the  passage  of 
vessels  up  or  down  the  river.  There  is  a  similar 
bridge  of  very  nearly  the  same  dimensions,  across 
the  Cayuga  lake,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  These  prodigious  structures  may  be 
mentioned  as  proofs,  among  many  others,  of  the 
enterprize  and  perseverance  which  are  essential 
ingredients  in  the  national  character. 

The  country  between  Washington  and  Alexan- 
dria is  similar  to  that  around  the  capital.  The 
surface  of  the  ground  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
river  is  agreeably  diversified  with  woods,  mea- 
dows, and  sloping  inequalities ;  but  the  soil,  wher- 
ever it  has  been  broken  up,  seems  to  consist  prin- 
cipally of  light  sand  and  gravel. 

Alexandria,   seven  miles  from   Washington,    is 


SCOTSMEN.  287 

a  commei'cial  town  of  considerable  activity,  con- 
taining about  nine  thousand  inhabitants.  The 
harbour  is  capacious,  and  vessels  of  the  largest  size 
can  float  alongside  the  wharfs.  The  town  is  com- 
pactly built,  on  the  plan  of  Philadelphia;  the  streets 
are  wide,  well  paved,  and  better  lighted  at  night 
than  those  of  most  American  towns.  The  princi- 
pal articles  of  export  are  flour,  biscuits,  and  to- 
bacco. It  is  said  that  200,000  barrels  of  flour  have 
been  inspected  here  in  the  course  of  a  single  year. 
The  biscuits,  or  crackers  as  they  are  universally 
called,  are  quite  celebrated,  and  are  shipped  in 
large  quantities  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
and  even  to  the  West  India  islands.  The  princi- 
pal manufacturers  are  two  worthy  countrymen  of 
ours ;  one  of  whom  served  his  apprenticeship  in  a 
well  known  baker's  shop  at  the  *  foot  of  the  burn 
close,'  in  our  native  city.  It  is  quite  gratifying  to 
meet  with  a  townsman  when  one  is  so  far  from 
home,  and  this  pleasure  I  have  unexpectedly  en- 
joyed more  than  once.  In  Baltimore  I  became 
acquainted  with  an  old  gentleman,  now  a  marble 
cutter,  who  wrought  as  a  mason  at  the  erection 
of  *  Spreull's  land,' l  and  who  could  talk  to  me  of 
several  individuals  whom  I  intimately  knew. 

One  of  the  cracker  bakers  was  rather  uncere- 
moniously used,  by  some  of  the  British  ships  of  war 
which  went  up  the  Potowmak  to  Alexandria,  to 

1  A  land  is  the  Scotish  appellation  for  a  tenement  which  ac- 
commodates several  families  under  one  roof. 

4. 


288  LETTER   X. —  ALEXANDRIA. 

co-operate,  had  that  been  necessary,  in  the  attack 
upon  Washington.  They  took  the  liberty,  it  seems, 
of  emptying  his  cellars  of  a  good  many  barrels  of 
flour,  without  favouring  him  with  any  thing  in  the 
shape  of  payment.  He  acknowledges,  however,  that 
they  performed  the  exploit  in  as  civil  a  manner  as 
could  well  be  supposed ;  for  when  he  went  on  board 
to  represent  that  something  by  way  of  a  fair  ex- 
change, would  sweeten  his  recollections  of  the 
transaction  very  materially,  the  officers  insisted  on 
his  sitting  down  and  drinking  wine  with  them  to 
promote  their  better  acquaintance,  and  after  thus 
oiling  the  hinges  of  friendship,  they  dismissed  him 
with  many  smooth  words,  and  good  natured  re- 
commendations to  think  no  more  about  the  flour. 
The  old  gentleman  jocularly  offered  to  sell  me  a 
bill  on  the  British  Treasury,  for  '  goods  deliver- 
ed.' We  cannot  help  regretting  that  any  one 
should  have  it  in  his  power  to  relate  such  anec- 
dotes of  our  naval  commanders;  they  are  not  at 
all  in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  modern  war- 
fare, nor  with  that  honourable  system  which  char- 
acterized the  march  of  our  armies  through  France. 
I  cannot  believe  that  it  has  been  customary  with 
our  naval  officers  so  to  plunder  private  property 
in  defenceless  towns ;  and  in  such  circumstances 
as  the  present,  I  should  be  inclined  to  hope  that 
were  an  application  made  to  our  government,  with 
proper  evidence  of  the  fact,  reparation  would  yet 
be  made.  Our  countryman,  however,  a  good 


RIDE  TO  MOUNT  VERNON.  289 

old  gentleman,  has  set  it  down  in  his  Ledger  as  a 
very  *  bad  debt.' 

At  Alexandria  I  was  favoured  with  an  introduc- 
tory note  to  the  Honourable  Bushrod  Washing- 
ton, the  General's  nephew,  and  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  to  whom  Mount  Vernon  now 
belongs.  I  believe  that  strangers  are  politely  re- 
ceived at  the  mansion  house  without  any  introduc- 
tion, but  it  was  of  course  more  agreeable  to  be 
possessed  of  it,  and  I  accidentally  obtained  the 
company  of  two  young  gentlemen  who  were  going 
a  pilgrimage  to  the  same  shrine.  The  road  to 
Mount  Vernon  after  running  along  for  a  short 
way  within  view  of  the  Potowmak,  strikes  off  into 
the  woods  on  the  right ;  the  day  was  hot,  and  we 
found  the  shelter  of  the  trees  very  grateful,  but 
coming  to  a  place  where  the  road  divided  we 
chanced  to  take  the  wrong  one,  and  after  pro- 
ceeding about  a  mile  were  indebted  to  a  black  girl 
for  being  set  right  again. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  avenue  to  Mount  Vernon, 
the  gate  was  opened  to  us  by  an  old  negro  who 
had  survived  the  master  of  his  youth,  and  who  now 
receives  from  many  a  visitor  substantial  tokens  of 
the  universal  respect  which  is  entertained  for  his 
memory.  The  avenue  is  narrow  and  in  bad  order, 
it  has  indeed  more  the  air  of  a  neglected  country 
road,  than  the  approach  to  a  gentleman's  residence. 
The  mansion  house,  an  old  fashioned  building  of 
two  stories  surmounted  by  a  small  turret  and 

VOL.  I.  B  b 


290  LETTER  X. MOUNT  VERNON. 

weathercock,  stands  on  an  elevated  situation  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Potowmak ;  it  is  built  of  wood, 
but  the  walls  are  cut  and  plastered  in  imitation  of 
rusticated  freestone.  The  back  part  of  the  house 
is  to  the  river;  at  the  other  side  are  two  small 
wings  at  right  angles  to  the  principal  building, 
and  connected  by  piazzas  which  bend  towards 
them  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  irregular  'crescent. 
Opposite  the  hall  door  is  a  circular  grass  plot 
surrounded  by  a  gravel  walk  and  shaded  on  both 
sides  by  lofty  trees ;  two  beautiful  chesnuts  were 
pointed  out  to  me,  which  sprung  from  nuts  planted 
by  the  General's  own  hand.  On  the  two  sides 
are  the  vegetable  and  flower  gardens,  in  the  latter 
of  which  is  a  greenhouse.2 

The  mansion  house  was  originally  built  by 
Washington's  uncle,3  who  had  served  in  the  Brit- 
ish navy  under  Admiral  Vernon,  and  commemo- 
rated his  regard  for  his  commanding  officer  by  the 
name  which  he  gave  to  his  estate.  Some  partial 
alterations  were  made  on  the  house  by  the  Gene- 
ral, but  report  says  that  he  subsequently  regretted 

'  In  the  British  edition  of  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington  is  a 
very  accurate  front  view  of  Mount  Vernon ;  in  Weld's  Travels  a 
view  is  given  of  the  back  part  of  the  house  and  the  bank  of  the 
river,  but  it  is  exceedingly  incorrect. 

s  In  Marshall's  life  of  Washington,  it  is  said  that  the  house  was 
built  by  his  elder  Brother;  my  journal  states  his  Uncle,  and  my 
memory  strongly  corroborates  its  testimony  as  to  the  information 
which  was  given  me  at  Mount  Vernon ;  it  is  possible  however  that 
I  may  have  misunderstood  what  was  told  me. 
4 


MANSION  HOUSE.  291 

that  he  did  not  entirely  rebuild  it.  It  is  an  old 
fashioned,  perhaps  not  a  very  comfortable  resi- 
dence, according  to  modern  ideas  of  comfort,  but  it 
ought  now  to  be  considered  sacred,  and  have  the 
most  unremitting  care  bestowed  on  its  preservation. 
He  will  be  worse  than  a  Vandal  who  presumes  to 
pull  it  down.  In  the  hall  hangs  a  picture  of  the 
Bastile,  and  in  a  small  glass  case  above  it  is  an 
ancient  key,  which  formerly  turned  the  bolt  of  one 
of  the  dreary  locks  in  that  house  of  sighs.  It  was 
sent  out  to  Washington  by  the  Marquis  la  Fa- 
yette,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Bastile,  as  an 
inscription  affixed  in  his  hand  writing  records. 
Over  the  mantel  piece  of  one  of  the  parlours  is  a 
small  framed  miniature  of  the  General  which  was 
cut  out  of  a  piece  of  common  earthen -ware.  It  is 
a  singular  fact  that  this  is  regarded  by  the  family 
as  the  most  accurate  likeness  that  exists.  The 
general  contour  of  his  face  is  well  ascertained,  and 
there  is  a  strong  similarity  in  most  of  the  portraits : 
yet  those  who  knew  him  best  agree  that  there  was 
a  certain  expression  in  his  countenance,  which  is 
quite  wanting  even  in  Stuart's  painting,  and  in 
the  engraving  which  was  executed  from  it.  This 
very  ordinary  kind  of  daub,  which  was  broken  out 
of  a  common  pitcher,  and  probably  executed  by 
some  potter's  apprentice,  is  said  to  possess  more 
of  this  intellectual  characteristic  than  any  of  the 
other  portraits. 

At  the  back  of  the  house  a  lofty  piazza,  stretches 
Bb2 


292  LETTER  X. — MOUNT  VERNON. 

along  the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and  be- 
fore it  the  ground  slopes  rapidly  towards  the  river 
and  soon  becomes  quite  precipitous.  On  the  bank 
is  a  small  tea-house,  which  affords  a  most  com- 
manding view  of  the  surrounding  scenery.  The 
Potowmak  widens  into  a  bay  before  you,  and  bend- 
ing round  the  base  of  Mount  Vernon,  seems  almost 
to  insulate  the  promontory  on  which  it  stands ; 
then  sweeping  in  the  opposite  direction  round  the 
projecting  shore  of  Maryland,  and  lost  for  a  time 
behind  its  vast  forests,  it  re-appears  in  noble  ex- 
panse about  ten  miles  below,  with  the  sunbeams 
flashing  from  its  surface,  and  rolling  its  mighty 
current  into  the  yet  more  ample  bosom  of  the 
Chesapeake. 

A  little  to  the  right  of  the  tea-house,  and  nearer 
to  the  edge  of  the  bank,  is  the  tomb  of  Washing- 
ton. Here  under  the  peaceful  shade  of  oaks  and 
cedars,  lie  all  that  earth  contains  of  him  by  whose 
energy  and  patriotism  the  United  States  became  a 
nation !  No  venerable  cathedral  rears  its  arches 
over  his  remains ;  no  sumptuous  mausoleum  em- 
balms his  memory.. 

"  Si  monumentum  quaeris,  circumspice  !" 

His  country  is  his  monument ;  his  country's  liberty 
his  only  panegyric  ! 

Washington  in  his  will  designated  the  spot  in 
which  he  wished  to  be  interred,  and  particularly 
directed  that  the  body  should  not  afterwards  be 


WASHINGTON'S  TOMB.  293 

removed.  The  cemetery  is  nothing  more  than  a 
plain  brick  vault,  almost  level  with  the  ground; 
it  is  encircled  by  venerable  oaks,  and  some  beauti- 
ful red  cedars  are  growing  in  the  mould  which 
covers  the  roof.  Visitors  were  formerly  allowed 
to  see  the  interior,  but  some  person  having  had 
the  rudeness  to  strip  part  of  the  cloth  from  the 
coffin,  all  access  to  it  is  now  forbidden.  Subse- 
quently to  this  prohibition,  the  servant  who  had 
been  intrusted  with  the  key  conceived  the  horrible 
idea  of  robbing,  the  vault,  with  the  purpose  of 
carrying  off  the  body  to  Britain  to  exhibit  it  for 
money  !  His  intention  was  happily  discovered 
and  the  nefarious  outrage  prevented  ;  it  is  difficult 
indeed  to  imagine  how  it  could  have  been  carried 
into  effect  without  immediate  detection,  but  the 
projector  must  have  been  a  fool  to  imagine  that 
such  atrocity  would  have  been  countenanced  in 
Britain,  or  that  he  would  have  been  permitted 
for  a  single  day  to  carry  on  so  abominable  a 
trade. 

The  State  of  Virginia  applied  to  the  relatives 
of  the  General  for  permission  to  remove  the  body 
to  Richmond,  to  erect  a  monument  over  it;  and  it 
is  said  that  notwithstanding  the  specific  injunctions 
of  the  will,  the  family  were  persuaded  to  consent 
to  this  proposal.  Several  years  however  have 
since  elapsed,  and  as  no  provision  has  yet  been 
made  for  carrying  the  proposed  plan  into  effect, 
it  is  generally  believed  that  no  claim  will  now  be 
Bbv3 


294  LETTER  X, — MOUNT  VTRNON. 

founded  upon  that  permission.     Congress  it  is  re- 
ported  wish  to  transfer  the  body   to  the   seat  of 
government,    and    to   entomb  it  under  the  centre 
dome  of  the  Capitol.     If  it  is   ever  removed  from 
its  present   situation    certainly  the   Capitol    is    its 
only   suitable    resting   place;    no  individual    State 
should  be  allowed  to  possess   a  deposite  which,  if 
the  family  relinquishes  it,  is  undoubtedly  the  pro- 
perty of  the  nation,  and  should  pass  into  no  other 
guardianship.     Beyond  all  question  however,  the 
proper  place  for  Washington's  ashes  is  where  they 
are.       The  secluded  spot  harmonizes  with    every 
idea  which  we  have  formed  of  his  character,  while 
the  powerful  influence  of  local  associations,  gives 
vividness  to  our  conceptions,  and  intensity  to  our 
emotions.     In  the  Capitol  every  thing  would  have 
an  opposite   tendency.       It   is    a   building   which 
Washington  never  saw,  and  which  is  no  way  con- 
nected with  his  personal  history ;  it  has  once  been 
reduced  to  ashes,  and  what  would  in  all  probability 
have  been  the  fate  of  the  body,  had  the  removal 
taken  place  before  that  event  ?    In  visiting  the  tomb 
of  Nelson  in  the  vaults  of  St.  Paul's,  it  is  not  the 
wondrous   achievements  of  the  hero  which  chiefly 
occupy   our  thoughts — there  is  nothing  in  those 
damp  and  dismal  caverns  which  is  at  all  in  har- 
mony with  such  recollections.     An  attendant  pilots 
you,  by  the  yellow  glimmering  of  a  tallow  candle^ 
through  tartarean  darkness   to  the  quarry  of  gran- 
ite under  which  he  is  buried,  and  while  wandering 


FORT  WASHINGTON.  295 

round  it,  your  thoughts  are  engrossed  by  the 
opening  which  was  made  in  the  floor  of  the  church 
to  lower  the  coffin  through,  and  of  the  prodigious 
labour  it  must  have  cost  to  pile  up  over  it  such 
ponderous  masses  of  stone — -Nelson  you  scarcely 
think  of,  your  ideas  are  all  engaged  about  those 
who  buried  him.  At  Mount  Vernon  no  such  dis- 
traction takes  place.  You  look  round  upon 
scenery  which  Washington  often  contemplated; 
you  tread  the  turf  over  which  he  walked ;  you  see 
the  gardens  in  which  he  amused  himself;  the  trees 
which  he  planted;  the  house,  the  rooms,  the  chair, 
which  he  occupied ;  and  the  humble  vault  which 
he  himself  chose  for  the  repose  of  his  dust.  Every 
thing  is  consistent — the  effect  harmonious  and 
powerful — Mount  Vernon  alone  should  be  Wash- 
ington's grave. 

On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Polowmak,  and  a 
very  little  way  farther  up,  is  a  small  intrenchment, 
named  Fort  Washington,  which  commands  the 
channel  of  the  river.  Had  it  been  vigorously  fought 
when  our  vessels  went  up  the  river  to  Alexandria, 
it  is  believed  that  it  might  have  arrested  their  pro- 
gress. When  our  troops  however  were  on  their 
march  to  Washington,  the  officer  who  commanded 
it  blew  it  up  and  made  off.  There  was  no  suf- 
ficient cause  for  such  a  proceeding,  yet  it  is  said 
that  he  obeyed  to  the  letter  the  orders  of  his  su- 
perior officer.  I  was  quite  gratified  to  hear  from 
a  gentleman  of  Judge  Washington's  family,  that 


296  LETTER  X. MOUNT  VERNON.    . 

when  the  British  ships  of  war  passed  Mount  Ver- 
non,  they  honoured  the  memory  of  the  departed 
hero  by  lowering  their  fore- top-sails;  and  their 
bands,  as  another  gentleman  informed  me,  played 
Washington's  March.  That  was  indeed  a  mani- 
festation of  most  correct  and  honourable  feeling, 
on  the  part  of  the  commanding  officer. 

I  have  mentioned  that  the  avenue  to  Mount 
Vernon  had  a  neglected  appearance,  I  am  sorry  to 
add  that  similar  neglect  pervades  other  parts  of 
the  establishment.  The  flower  garden  and  green- 
house have  nearly  gone  to  decay;  the  tea-house 
on  the  bank  of  the  river  is  almost  in  ruins,  indeed 
its  upper  story,  from  which  a  more  extensive  view 
may  be  obtained,  is  at  present  totally  inaccessible, 
for  the  ladder  to  it  retains  but  one  foot  at  top  and 
another  at  bottom.  Even  the  door  of  the  vault  is  to 
all  appearance  so  crazy,  that  I  think  a  kick  would 
go  far  to  knock  it  to  pieces.  It  is  painful  to  ob- 
serve such  an  air  of  desolation,  in  so  interesting  a 
spot,  and  I  would  cherish  the  hope  that  it  will 
speedily  be  removed. 

After  having  spent  an  hour  or  two  at  Mount 
Vernon,  Judge  Washington  politely  invited  us  to 
accompany  him  to  a  Barbecue,  which  was  to  take 
place  in  the  afternoon  close  by  the  road  to  Alex- 
andria. The  very  term  was  new  to  me;  but  when 
explained  to  mean  a  kind  of  rural  fete  which  is 
common  in  Virginia  it  was  not  difficult  to  persuade 
us  to  accept  the  invitation. 


A  VIRGINIA  BABBECUE.  297 

The  spot  selected  for  this  rural  festivity  was  a  very 
suitable  one.  In  a  fine  wood  of  oaks  by  the  road 
side  we  found  a  whole  colony  of  black  servants,  who 
had  made  a  lodgement  since  we  passed  it  in  the 
morning,  and  the  blue  smoke  which  was  issuing 
here  and  there  from  among  the  branches,  readily 
suggested  that  there  was  cooking  going  forward. 

Alighting  from  my  horse  and  tying  it  under  the 
shadow  of  a  branching  tree  I  proceeded  to  explore 
the  recesses  of  the  wood.  At  the  bottom  of  a  pretty 
steep  slope  a  copious  spring  of  pure  water  bubbled 
up  through  the  ground,  and  in  the  little  glen 
through  which  it  was  stealing,  black  men,  women 
and  children,  were  busied  with  various  processes  of 
sylvan  cookery.  One  was  preparing  a  fowl  for  the 
spit,  another  feeding  a  crackling  fire  which  curled 
up  round  a  large  pot,  others  were  broiling  pigs, 
lamb,  and  venison,  over  little  square  pits  filled  with 
the  red  embers  of  hickory  wood.  From  this  last 
process  the  entertainment  takes  its  name.  The 
meat  to  be  barbecued  is  split  open  and  pierced  with 
two  long  slender  rods,  upon  which  it  is  suspended 
across  the  mouth  of  the  pits,  and  turned  from  side  to 
side  till  it  is  thoroughly  broiled.  The  hickory  tree 
gives,  it  is  said,  a  much  stronger  heat  than  coals, 
and  when  completely  kindled  is  almost  without 
smoke. 

Leaving  the  busy  negroes  at  their  tasks — a  scene 
by  the  way  which  suggested  a  tolerable  idea  of  an 
encampment  of  Indians  preparing  for  a  feast  after 


298  LETTER  X. — ALEXANDRIA. 

the  toils  of  the  chase — I  made  my  way  to  the  out- 
skirts of  the  wood,  where  I  found  a  rural  banqueting- 
hall  and  ball  room.  This  was  an  extensivejDlatform 
raised  a  few  feet  abpve  the  ground,  and  shaded  by 
a  closely  interwoven  canopy  of  branches.  At  one 
side  was  a  rude  table  and  benches  of  most  hospi- 
table dimensions,  at  the  other  a  spacious  dancing 
floor ;  flanking  the  long  dining  table,  a  smaller  one 
groaned  under  numerous  earthen  vessels  filled  with 
various  kinds  of  liquors,  to  be  speedily  converted, 
by  a  reasonable  addition  of  the  limpid  current  from 
the  glen  judiciously  qualified  by  other  ingredients, 
into  tubfulls  of  generous  toddy. 

A  few  of  the  party  had  reached  the  barbecue 
ground  before  us,  and  it  was  not  long  ere  we  mus- 
tered altogether  about  thirty  ladies  and  somewhere 
about  an  hundred  gentlemen.  A  preliminary  co- 
tillon or  two  occupied  the  young  and  amused  the 
older,  while  the  smoking  viands  were  placed  upon 
the  board,  and  presently  Washington's  March 
was  the  animating  signal  for  conducting  the  ladies 
to  the  table.  Seating  their  fair  charge  at  one  side, 
their  partners  lost  no  time  in  occupying  the  other, 
and  as  there  was  still  some  vacant  space,  those  who 
happened  to  be  nearest  were  pressed  in  to  occupy 
it.  Among  others  the  invitation  was  extended  to 
me,  and  though  I  observed  that  several  declined 
it,  I  was  too  little  acquainted  with  the  tactics  of  a 
barbecue,  and  somewhat  too  well  inclined  to  eat, 
to  be  very  unrelenting  in  my  refusal.  I  soon  how- 


A  VIRGINIA  BARBECUE.  299 

ever  discovered  my  false  move.  Few  except  those 
who  wish  to  dance  choose  the  first  course ;  watch- 
fulness to  anticipate  the  wants  of  the  ladies,  prevent 
those  who  sit  down  with  them  from  accomplishing 
much  themselves,  the  dance  is  speedily  resumed, 
and  even  those  who  like  myself  do  not  intend  to 
mingle  in  it  regard  the  rising  of  the  ladies  as 
a  signal  to  vacate  their  seats.  A  new  levy 
succeeds,  of  those  who  see  more  charms  in  a 
dinner  than  a  quadrille,  and  many  who  excused 
themselves  from  the  first  requisition  needed  no 
particular  solicitation  to  obey  the  second.  The 
signal  for  rising  did  not  seem  on  this  occasion  to 
excite  much  notice ;  and  some  prolonged  their 
sitting  till  they  had  an  opportunity  of  bestowing 
on  the  third  levy,  the  pleasure  of  their  company. 
Some  experiments  began  now  to  be  made  upon  the 
virtues  of  the  toddy,  and  it  was  not  long  ere  the 
capacious  lakes  began  to  be  effectually  drained  off. 
Let  me  not  be  misunderstood  however ;  I  saw  not 
the  slightest  approach  to  intemperance.  Jollity 
and  good  humour  were  not  wanting,  but  there 
was  nothing  which  trenched  upon  sobriety  either 
in  speech  or  behaviour.  There  might  be  others 
present  besides  Judge  Washington  who  had  seats 
on  the  bench,  but  the  judicial  dignity  was  no  way 
compromised  by  any  part  of  the  proceedings. 

While  local  politics  and  other  matters  engrossed 
the  conversation  at  table,  others  less  inclined  to  the 
sedentary  position  stationed  themselves  round  the 


300  LETTER  X. ALEXANDRIA. 

dancers.  The  cotillon  was  the  favourite  figure, 
and  the  platform  was  just  large  enough  to  admit 
of  two  at  a  time.  There  '  music  rose  with  its 
voluptuous  swell,'  and  exercise  flushed  the  cheek, 
and  enjoyment  brightened  the  eye  of  the  fair  Vir- 
ginians. 

But  the  sun  drove  on  in  its  diurnal  career ;  and 
as  my  poor  steed  had  fasted  since  early  in  the 
morning,  I  thought  it  time  to  take  leave  of  the 
entertainment  and  make  the  best  of  my  way  to 
Alexandria.  I  left  them  about  five  o'clock,  and 
learned  that  very  shortly  after,  the  assembly  broke 
up. 


LETTER  XI. 


VOL.  I. 


C  c 


LETTER  XL 

VOYAGE  UP  THE  HUDSON STEAM  BOATS FULTON HOBOKEN 

GREENWICH HAERLEM     CREEK THE    PALISADES TAPFAAN 

BAY — SLOOPS — VERPLANK'S   POINT — HIGHLANDS — FORT  PUT- 
NAM  MILITARY  ACADEMY KAATSKILL  MOUNTAINS ALBANY 

JEALOUSY      OF     LARGE      TOWNS GREAT      CANALS FEUDAL 

SYSTEM— MOHAWK    RIVER COHOES    FALL CHURCHES. 

Albany,  October,  1818. 

I  HAVE  now  made  two  passages  in  a  steam  boat  on 
the  Hudson;  the  river  in  which  this  system  of 
navigation  was  first  successfully  attempted.  Of 
this  honour  we  cannot  deprive  America,  and  it 
were  unmanly  and  ungenerous  to  attempt  it.  A- 
mericans  are  very  far  from  pretending  that  Fulton 
was  the  first  projector  of  steam  vessels,  but  they 
are  entitled  to  maintain  that  he  was  the  first  who 
succeeded  in  bringing  them  into  operation;  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  doing  so,  he  very 
materially  improved  on  the  plans  which  others  had 
proposed.1 

1  "  The  merit  of  a  great  original  conception  cannot  be  denied, 
but  the  talent  of  its  possessor  is  frequently  eclipsed  by  the  improve- 
ments it  afterwards  undergoes,  and  the  splendid  combinations  in 
which  it  is  involved.  The  Marquis  of  Worcester  seems  to  have 
had  the  first  crude  notion  of  a  steam  engine— Newcomen  con. 
structed  one,  but  the  name  of  Watt  is  immortalized  in  the  history 
Cc  2 


304  LETTER  XI. — RIVER  HUDSON. 

We  can  state  with  truth  that  experiments  were 
made  on  the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal  many  years 
ago  to  ascertain  the  practicability  of  what  has  now 
succeeded ;  and  although  it  is  said  that  the  attempt 
was  abandoned  solely  in  consequence  of  the  injury 
which  was  done  to  the  banks,  by  the  violent  agita- 
tion of  the  water,  yet  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
result  was  in  other  respects  very  encouraging,  for 
had  it  been  so,  there  was  sagacity  enough  in  our 
countrymen  to  have  transferred  the  system  to  river 
navigation. 

Fulton  was  indebted  for  his  ultimate  success  to 
the  efficient  aid  of  the  late  Mr.  Livingstone, 
Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  who  sup- 
plied the  funds  for  his  experiments.  Mr.  Living- 
stone's friends  were  at  first  inclined  to  censure 
what  they  esteemed  his  temerity  in  embarking  in 
so  vapouring  a  scheme,  but  a  few  months  wrought 
a  wonderful  change  in  their  opinions,  and  his 
family  is  now  reaping  the  rich  fruits  of  his  enter- 
prize.  The  only  legislative  encouragement  which 
the  projectors  received,  was  an  exclusive  right  for 
a  term  of  years,  of  navigating  steam  vessels  in  the 


of  the  arts  as  the  efficient  author  of  the  invention.  The  applica- 
tion of  steam  to  the  propelling  of  boats  is  not  a  new  idea ;  nay, 
experiments  were  long  since  instituted  to  prove  its  efficiency.  The 
bright  and  ample  hdhour  of  our  Fulton,  is,  that  he  succeeded  where 
others  failed,  and  that  he  carried  into  execution  what  others  had 
abandoned  as  impracticable  and  senseless."  North  American 
Review,  No.  XXXIV.  p.  24-2. 


STEAM  BOATS.  305 

waters  of  the  State  of  New  York.2  This  was  how- 
ever a  prodigious  monopoly,  for  it  includes  the 
navigation  of  the  Hudson,  Lake  George,  Lake 
Champlain,  the  lower  part  of  Lake  Erie,  the 
American  side  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence, Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  bay  of  New 
York.  Large  sums  have  been  paid  to  the  Com- 
pany by  various  individuals  for  liberty  to  navigate 
different  portions  of  these  waters. 

The  steam  boats  on  the  Hudson  are  much  larger 
than  any  which  we  have  seen  at  home,  and  in 
many  respects  very  different  in  their  construction. 
I  have  sailed  in  one  which  contains  upwards  of 
120  permanent  sleeping  births,  and  these  are  fre- 
quently inadequate  to  the  accommodation  of  the 
passengers.3 

2  This  monopoly  was  for  a  time  silently  acquiesced   in  by  the 
neighbouring  States,  but  of  late  they  have  begun  to  manifest  great 
discontent  that  New  York  should  send  shoals  of  steam  boats  into 
their  harbours,  while  their  steam  vessels  are  not  allowed  to  enter 
those  of  New  York ;  and  as  a  retaliatory  measure  the  States  of  New 
Jersey    and   Connecticut   have   interdicted  New  York   steam   boats 
from  approaching  their  shores.     Lawyers   of  great  eminence    have 
given  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  power  which  has  been  assumed  in 
granting  this  monopoly,  is  completely  inconsistent  with  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  the  question  is  now  awaiting  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  at  Washington.     (1822.) 

3  The  vessel    here   alluded   to    is   the    Chancellor    Livingstone, 
wliich  was  the  largest  and  finest  steam  vessel  in  the  United  States, 
while  I  was  there.     Through  the  kindness  of  a  friend  in  New  York, 
and   another  in    Greenock,   I  am  enabled  to    subjoin  an   accurate 
statement   of  the    Chancellor    Livingstone's   dimensions,    power  of 
engine,  rate   of  sailing,  and   cost,   as  contrasted  with  those  of  the 

Cc3 


306 


LETTER  XI. — RIVER    HUDSON. 


The    distance    from    New   York    to   Albany   is 
reckoned    at    160    miles,   and   the   fare   including 

Majestic,  the  largest  of  the  steam  packets  wliich  ply  between  Green- 
ock  and  Liverpool.  The  American  Vessel  was  built  in  New  York, 
and  her  engine  made  at  Fulton's  works  at  Powle's  Hook;  the 
British  one  was  built  by  Mr.  Scott  of  Greenock,  and  Mr.  Napier 
of  Glasgow  furnished  the  engines. 


CHANCELLOR  LIVINGSTONE.         MAJESTIC. 


Length  of  Keel 

Length  of  Deck    .     . 

Breadth  of  Beam 

Breadth  over  the 
Paddle  Boxes 

Draught  of  Water 

Register  Tonnage, 
exclusive  of  the 
Engine  Room  . 

Register  Tonnage, 
including  the  En- 
gine Room 

Nominal  power  of 
the  Engine  .  .  . 

Diameter  of  the  Cy- 
linder .  .  .  . 

Stroke  of  the  Piston 

Diameter  of  the  Pad- 
dle Wheels  .  .  . 

Breadth  of  the  Pad- 
dle Wheels  .  .  . 

.Diameter  of  the  Fly 
Wheels 

Average  velocity  in 
smooth  water  by 
Steam  alone 


154  feet 
165  feet 
32  feet 


7$  feet 


125|  feet. 
144  feet. 
23i  feet. 

391  feet. 

9f  feet,  with  80  tons  fuel. 


239  tons, 


.520  tons         .     .  343  tons. 

75  horses        .     .  2  of  50  horses  each. 

40  inches        .     .  40  inches  each. 

5  feet         .     .     .  3i  feet. 

17  feet      ...  16    feet. 

5  feet  10  inches  6^  feet. 

14  feet       .     .     .  None. 

8!  knots  an  hour  10i  knots  an  hour. 


STEAM  BOAT.  307 

three  meals  is  seven  dollars,  or  thirty-one  shillings, 
and  sixpence  sterling.     An  additional  dollar  how- 


CHANCELLOR  LIVINGSTONE. 

Greatest  velocity  with 


favourable      wind 
and  tide 
Cost  of  Vessel,   rig- 
ging and  furniture 
Cost  of  Engine 

.     12  knots        .     .     . 

£  11,700  sterling      . 
.     .£13,500  sterling      . 

15  knots. 

£  10,000  sterling. 
£5,000  sterling. 

Total  cost        ....     £25,200  sterling      .     £15,000  sterling. 

It  will  be  observed  from  the  above  statement,  that  the  cylinder  of 
the  Chancellor  Livingstone's  engine  is  exactly  of  the  same  diameter 
with  that  of  each  of  the  two  in  the  Majestic,  yet  the  power  of  the 
American  engine  is  rated  at  75  horses,  and  the  others  at  50 ;  this 
is  accounted  for  by  the  longer  stroke  of  the  piston  in  the  American 
engine.  The  machinery  of  the  Chancellor  Livingstone  rises  4£ 
feet,  and  the  top  of  the  piston  15  feet,  above  the  deck.  In  the 
Majestic  the  machinery  and  piston  are  all  under  the  deck.  This 
arrangement,  which  is  universal  in  the  American  steam  boats, 
gives  a  longer  stroke  to  the  piston,  and  the  increased  power  enables 
them  to  enlarge  the  diameter  of  the  paddle  wheels ;  it  however  raises 
the  centre  of  gravity  so  much,  that  it  seems  at  first  sight  scarcely 
capable  of  application  to  vessels  which  go  to  sea,  and  carry  sails, 
which  none  of  the  American  boats  did  when  I  was  there.  Since 
my  return  however,  a  steam  ship  has  been  established  between  New 
York  and  New  Orleans,  and  a  steam  brig  between  New  York  and 
Norfolk,  which  are  rigged  with  schooner  sails  and  in  both,  as  the 
cuts  in  the  newspapers  indicate,  the  machinery  and  piston  rise  con- 
siderably above  the  deck.  The  Majestic  has  three  masts,  with 
schooner  sails,  and  spreads  when  in  full  sail  3000  yards  of  canvass. 
Her  shortest  passage  from  Liverpool,  a  distance  of  24«5  miles,  was 
performed  in  19i  hours,  exclusive  of  stoppages,  which  is  at  the  rate 
of  rather  more  than  12  knots  an  hour,  and  she  once  ran  from  the 
Craig  of  Ailsa  to  Greenock,  a  distance  of  60  miles,  in  3  hours  and 
4-0  minutes,  which  exceeds  15  knots  an  hour.  The  Chancellor 


308  LETTER  XI. RIVER  HUDSON. 

ever  is  levied  by  the  State  from  each  passenger, 
and  appropriated  to  the  fund  for  cutting  the  great 
canal,  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Hudson.4 

Livingstone  burns  pine  wood,  and  carries  her  fuel  on  wings  project- 
ing in  front  of  the  paddle  boxes.  She  has  two  chimnies,  several 
feet  asunder,  and  the  pilot  occupies  a  position  a  little  behind  them 
upon  a  stage  raised  above  the  machinery,  steering  by  a  wheel,  from 
which  tackling  is  carried  round  to  the  rudder. 

The  American  steam  vessels  have  nothing  corresponding  to  our 
second  cabin  or  steerage.  The  principal  cabin  of  the  Chancellor 
Livingstone  is  54  feet  long,  and  7  feet  from  the  floor  to  the  beams ; 
the  width  in  feet  I  have  not,  but  it  accommodates  with  ease  two 
parallel  ranges  of  dining  tables,  of  the  full  length  of  the  apartment. 
The  Ladies'  cabin  is  upon  deck,  immediately  over  the  other,  and  is 
36  feet  long.  The  forward  cabin  is  entirely  a  sleeping  apartment, 
40  feet  long,  with  a  longitudinal  partition  in  the  centre.  The  sleep- 
ing births  are  along  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  in  two  tiers  ;  the  prin- 
cipal cabin  contains  38,  the  forward  cabin  56,  and  the  Ladies'  24,  in 
all  118;  but  these  are  often  inadequate  to  the  accommodation  of 
the  passengers,  and  mattresses  are  laid  out  upon  settees  on  the  floor. 
There  are  other  17  sleeping  births,  for  the  captain,  pilot,  and  crew, 
making  a  total  of  135.  She  carries  24  hands,  including  engineers, 
sailors,  stewards,  cooks,  &c.  She  was  built  when  materials  and  work- 
manship were  very  high  ;  it  is  said  that  she  could  now  be  constructed 
for  little  more  than  one-half. 

4,  This  tax  like  every  other  was  exceedingly  unpopular,  and  it  is 
obvious  that  although  levied  from  tire  public  its  inconvenience  was 
principally  felt  by  the  steam  boat  company,  for  passengers  by  the 
sloops,  which  are  numerous  and  excellent,  were  not  subject  to  it. 
So  much  was  this  felt,  that  the  steam  boat  proprietors  have  subse- 
quently found  it  their  interest  to  relieve  the  public  of  it  altogether, 
by  compounding  with  the  State  for  an  annual  payment  of  five 
thousand  dollars.  As  this  is  a  voluntary  offset  from  their  yearly 
profits,  of  more  than  eleven  hundred  pounds  sterling,  it  is  evident 
that  they  must  have  been  very  considerable.  They  have  at  the 
same  time  lowered  the  passage  money  to  six  dollars.  (1822.) 


HOBOKEN — GENERAL  HAMILTON.  309 

We  sailed  from  New  York  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  The  weather  was  unfavourable  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  excursion,  for  the  wind  blew 
strong  a-head  and  the  air  was  piercingly  cold; 
mere  pleasure  however  was  not  my  object,  and  I 
had  no  resource  but  to  submit. 

For  a  considerable  distance  the  Hudson  is  the 
boundary  between  the  States  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey.  Jersey  city  as  it  is  called  is  nearly 
opposite  the  lower  extremity  of  New  York,  and 
about  three  miles  farther  up  on  the  same  side  is  a 
noted  duelling  ground,  called  Hoboken.  Hither 
'  men  of  honour'  resort  from  New  York,  to  vindi- 
cate their  claim  to  this  envied  appellation,  and  by 
eluding  the  laws  of  men  and  defying  those  of  God, 
unanswerably  demonstrate  the  extremity  of  their 
courage.  A  small  white  obelisk  was  erected  here 
to  mark  the  spot  where  General  Hamilton  fell,  by 
the  hand  of  Colonel  Burr,  but  it  is  said  to  be 
going  rapidly  to  decay.  To  Hamilton's  genius 
the  United  States  are  indebted  for  some  of  the 
most  invigorating  principles  in  their  national  con- 
stitution, and  had  the  political  system  which  he 
advocated  been  more  extensively  adopted  in  the 
Federal  compact,  the  republic  would  probably 
have  made  a  nearer  approach  to  a  perfect  con- 
stitution. It  is  much  to  be  lamented  that  a  life  so 
valuable  to  his  family,  his  country,  and  mankind, 
should  have  been  staked  on  the  decision  of  so  un- 
hallowed a  tribunal.  Burr  was  pointed  out  to  me 


310  LETTER  XI. RIVER  HUDSON. 

in  the  streets  of  New  York.  He  has  never  been 
tried  for  the  offence,  for  as  the  duel  was  fought  in 
New  Jersey,  the  State  of  New  York  can  take  no 
cognizance  of  its  result,  and  so  long  as  the  sur- 
vivor keeps  out  of  the  territory  of  New  Jersey,  he 
is  safe  from  the  operation  of  its  laws.  Although 
the  crossing  of  a  stream,  however,  thus  protects 
the  person  of  the  murderer,  he  cannot  be  said  to 
have  gone  without  punishment  even  of  a  temporal 
kind.  The  Republican  party  to  which  he  at  first 
belonged  shun  him  as  an  apostate ;  and  after  hav- 
ing failed  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Federalists, 
he  earned  their  thorough  detestation,  by  sacrificing 
to  his  resentment  the  man  who  was  their  most 
illustrious  ornament.5 

*  Close  by  Hoboken  is  Weehawken,  a  romantic  spot  about  200 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  river,  from  which  a  most  commanding 
prospect  is  enjoyed  of  the  bay  and  surrounding  scenery.  In  1821 
a  lively  little  satirical  poem  was  published  by  a  Mr.  Hallack  of  New 
York,  from  which  the  following  descriptive  stanzas  are  extracted  :— 

"  Weehawken,  in  thy  mountain  scenery  yet, 

All  we  adore  of  nature  in  her  wild 
And  frolic  hour  of  infancy,  is  met; 

And  never  has  a  summer's  morning  smil'd 
Upon  a  lovelier  scene,  than  the  full  eye 
Of  the  enthusiast  revels  on — when  high 

Amid  thy  forest  solitudes,  he  climbs 

O'er  crags  that  proudly  tower  above  the  deep, 

And  knows  that  sense  of  danger,  wliich  sublimes 
The  breathless  moment — when  his  daring  step 

Is  on  the  verge  of  the  cliff,  and  he  can  hear 

The  low  dash  of  the  wave  with  startled  ear. 


GREENWICH.  311 

About  a  mile  above  New  York  and  nearly  op- 
posite Hoboken,  is  the  village  of  Greenwich,  now 
almost  an  integral  part  of  the  city.  Around  it  are 
many  neat  buildings,  the  greater  part  of  which,  as 
well  as  the  village  itself,  were  erected  in  former 
times  as  a  retreat  from  the  yellow  fever.  6  Above 

Like  the  death  music  of  his  coining  doom, 

And  clings  to  the  green  turf  with  desperate  force, 

As  the  heart  clings  to  life  ;  and  when  resume 
The  currents  in  his  veins  their  wonted  course, 

There  lingers  a  deep  feeling—like  the  moan 

Of  wearied  ocean  when  the  storm  is  gone. 

In  such  an  hour  he  turns,  and  on  his  view, 

Ocean,  and  earth,  and  heaven^burst  before  him. 

Clouds  slumbering  at  his  feet,  and  the  clear  blue 
Of  summer's  sky  in  beauty  bending  o'er  him— • 

The  city  bright  below ;  and  far  away, 

Sparkling  in  golden  light,  his  own  romantic  bay. 

Tall  spire  and  glittering  roof,  and  battlement, 

And  banners  floating  in  the  sunny  air, 
And  white  sails  o'er  the  calm  blue  waters  bent, 

Green  isle,  and  circling  shore,  are  blended  there 
In  wild  reality.     When  life  is  old, 
And  many  a  scene  forgot,  the  heart  will  hold 

Its  memory  of  this ;  nor  lives  there  one 

Whose  infant  breath  was  drawn,  or  boyhood's  days 

Of  happiness  were  pass'd,  beneath  that  sun, 
That  in  his  manhood's  prime  can  calmly  gaze 

Upon  that  bay,  or  on  that  mountain  stand, 

Nor  feel  the  prouder  of  his  native  land." 

Fanny,  a  Poem,  Stanzas  XCI—XCVI. 

6  The  subsequent  and  repeated  return  of  this  malady,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  many  years,  has  again  driven  the  citizens  to  Greenwich  for 
shelter.  (1822.) 


312  LETTER  XI. RIVER  HUDSON. 

Greenwich,  the  banks  on  the  right  slope  with  a 
gentle  declivity  to  the -water,  and  are  in  general 
thickly  wooded ;  on  the  left  they  are  frequently 
broken  and  precipitous.  About  fifteen  miles  up 
the  river,  Kingsbridge  heights  appear  on  the  right, 
and  below  them  Haerlem  creek, 7  as  it  is  called, 
which  stretches  with  an  irregular  curve  from  the 
Hudson  into  Long  Island  Sound,  giving  to  the  . 
Manhattan  territory  its  insular  character,  and 
limiting  the  jurisdiction  of  the  city  corporation  of 
New  York. 

The  New  Jersey  shore  becomes  now  bold  and 
precipitous,  and  for  several  miles  an  abrupt  wall 
of  granite  raises  its  bare  forehead  on  the  left,  to  a 
height  of  nearly  two  hundred  feet.  The  Palisades, 
as  this  range  has  been  most  appropriately  denom- 
inated, form  a  striking  feature  in  the  landscape ; 
they  are  in  general  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet 
from  the  water's  edge,  in  some  places  the  front  has 
been  broken,  and  irregular  masses  of  rock  tumbled 
downwards  to  the  water,  but  for  the  most  part  it 
is  smooth  and  perpendicular  like  the  wall  of  an 
ancient  fortress,  while  here  and  there  a  solitary 
pine  tree,  '  moor'd  on  the  rifted  rock,'  seems,  like 
the  banner  of  a  citadel,  to  wave  a  proud  defiance 
from  the  edge  of  the  cliff. 

7  The  reader  of  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York  will  re- 
collect that  here  the  renowned  sounder  of  brass,  Antony  Van  Cor. 
laer,  met  with  his  untimely  fate,  presumptuously  essaying  while  half 
tipsy  to  swim  across  the  creek  '  in  a  dark  and  stormy  night, ' 


PALISADES TAPPAAN    BAY.  313 

With  the  Palisades  terminates  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  and  we  approach  a  wider  part  of  the  stream 
which  the  early  Dutch  settlers  dignified  with  the 
appellation  of  the  Tappaan  Sea,  but  which  was  in 
after  times  modified  into  that  of  Tappaan  Bay. 
This  lake  as  we  may  call  it  is  about  ten  miles  long, 
and  the  banks  are  from  four  to  seven  miles  apart, 
presenting  a  very  considerable  variety  of  landscape  ; 
*  here  the  bold  promontory  crowned  with  embow- 
ering trees  advancing  into  the  bay — there  the  long 
woodland  slope  sweeping  up  from  the  shore  iir  rich 
luxuriance — whilst  at  a  distance  a  long  waving  line 
of  rocky  heights  throw  their  gigantic  shades  across 
the  water.' 8  In  many  places  the  ground  has  been 
cleared  of  wood,  and  country  seats  and  snug  farm 
houses,  flanked  by  capacious  barns,  give  variety 
to  the  scene ;  in  other  situations  however  the  for- 

8  Knickerbocker,  Vol.  II.  Chap.  2. — Mr.  Irving's  fascinating 
pen  has  now  invested  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Hudson  with  all 
the  charm  of  classic  ground.  The  reader  need  scarcely  be  reminded 
of  Rip  Van  Winkle  and  the  Legend  of  the  Sleepy  Hollow.  The 
Sleepy  Hollow  we  are  told  lies  '  in  the  bosom  of  one  of  those  spa- 
cious coves  which  indent  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Hudson,  at  that 
broad  expansion  of  the  river  denominated  by  the  ancient  Dutch 
navigators  the  Tappaan  Zee,  and  where  they  always  prudently 
shortened  sail  and  implored  the  protection  of  St.  Nicholas."  Let 
not  future  voyagers  up  the  river,  fail  to  explore  the  sequestered  glen 
on  their  right,  where  Ichabod  Crane  sighed  for  the  smiles  of  Katrina 
Van  Tassel,  and  where  the  ill-omened  apparition  of  the  gallop- 
ing Hessian  wrought  such  wo  to  the  enamoured  pedagogue.  The 
mountain  side  where  Kip  encountered  the  dolorous  party  at  nine 
pins,  and  partook  of  their  soporific  flagon,  is  yet  at  a  distance. 
VOL.  I.  D  d 


314  LETTER  XI. RIVER  HUDSON. 

ests  are  yet  untamed,  and  afford  the  traveller  a 
glimpse  of  what  America  formerly  was,  when  none 
but  the  Indian  traversed  its  shores,  and  only  the 
bark  canoe  glided  over  its  waters. 

On  the  traveller's  left  is  Rockland  county,  a  fa- 
vourite resort  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers ;  the  race 
is  hitherto  so  unmixed,  that  very  little  English  is 
spoken  in  any  part  of  the  county.  Some  of  the 
land  on  the  right  contains  good  freestone,  and  has 
been  valued  so  high  as  1500  Dollars  an  acre ; 
about  £340  sterling. 

I  was  particularly  struck,  in  my  progress  up  this 
lordly  stream,  by  the  multitude  of  thriving  little 
towns  which  at  short  intervals  stud  its  banks. 
They  are  generally  of  wood,  and  some  are  obvi- 
ously of  recent  origin,  but  in  others  a  sprinkling 
of  brick  buildings  gives  an  aspect  of  comparative 
antiquity  and  a  promise  of  permanence  to  the 
settlement.  All  of  them  have  wharfs  projecting 
into  the  river,  which  are  never  without  sloops 
loading  or  discharging ;  in  many  of  them  banks 
are  to  be  found  and  courts  of  justice. 

Schooners  are  a  favourite  kind  of  vessel  in 
America  for  the  coasting  trade,  but  in  the  rivers, 
and  particularly  on  the  Hudson,  none  but  sloops 
are  employed  ;  in  going  up  the  stream  we  met  a 
great  number  going  down  before  the  wind  to  New 
York.  The  Hudson  river  sloops  are  proverbial 
for  their  neatness.  They  are  not  deep  in  the  wa- 
ter, but  very  broad  in  the  beam  and  sharp  in  the 


HUDSON  SLOOP VERPLANKS's  POINT.        315 

bows ;  carrying  a  large  cargo  and  giving  space  for 
a  comfortable  cabin,  but  drawing  little  water  and 
sailing  fast.  The  rigging  is  abundant  and  in  ex- 
cellent order,  the  vessel  clean,  showily  painted, 
and  occasionally  decorated  with  a  handsome  figure 
head ;  altogether  very  superior  in  appearance  to 
any  of  our  river  craft.  The  number  that  are  em- 
ployed upon  this  river  have  been  estimated  at  two 
thousand,  of  40  tons  and  upwards. 

Somewhat  above  the  Tappaan  Bay  there  is  a 
contraction  and  sudden  bend  of  the  channel,  and 
the  stream,  after  washing  in  its  descent  the  bases 
of  the  mountainous  range  denominated  the  High- 
lands, makes  a  circuit  round  a  bold  head-land 
called  Verplank's  Point  which  projects  from  the 
eastern  shore.  The  turn  is  so  sudden,  that  in 
going  up  the  river  the  banks  at  a  little  distance 
seem  to  close  completely  in,  and  it  is  not  till  you 
have  approached  very  near  it  that  the  narrow  chan- 
nel appears  upon  the  left,  through  which  the  river 
issues  from  the  mountainous  region.  Before  we 
reached  this  part  of  our  course  a  most  agreeable 
change  took  place  in  the  weather.  The  clouds 
broke,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  burst  through ; 
the  wind  subsided  into  a  gentle  breeze,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  became  perceptibly  milder,  and 
we  entered  the  alpine  region  under  the  cheering 
and  beautifying  influence  of  a  lovely  autumnal  af- 
ternoon, rendered  doubly  enlivening  by  the  pre- 
vious contrast. 

Dd2 


316  LETTER  XI. RIVER  HUDSON. 

Verplank's  Point  commands  a  fine  prospect  of 
the  river.  The  bank  swells  up  with  a  gradual  but 
rapid  slope,  the  brow  of  it  is  crowned  by  a  neat 
family  mansion,  and  a  little  below,  the  roof  of  the 
tea-house  appears  from  among  the  trees.  Behind 
rise  the  lofty  hills  among  which  we  were  about 
to  pass,  and  you  could  almost  imagine  yourself  on 
the  margin  of  Lochlomond  or  some  other  of  our 
Scotish  lakes.  Our  floating  leviathan  now  entered 
the  narrow  channel,  and  we  were  soon  surrounded 
by  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson.  These  are  said 
to  form  a  part  of  the  eastern  or  Blue  Ridge  divi- 
sion of  the  Appalachian  mountains  ;  a  continuation 
of  which  skirts  the  boundaries  of  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts,  and  pursuing  a  north  easterly 
course,  passes  through  Vermont  into  Canada.  The 
height  of  the  more  elevated  points  on  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson  does  not  much  exceed  1500  feet;  they 
are  of  course  low  in  comparison  of  a  great  many  of 
the  mountains  of  Scotland,  but  their  effect  in  the 
landscape  is  much  more  imposing  than  that  of  more 
elevated  masses  in  a  hilly  country. 

An  American  mountain  is  in  general  very  unlike 
a  Scotish  one.  Ours  are  bare  craggy  ridges,  sharp 
and  angular  in  their  outline,  rearing  a  flinty  peak 
towards  heaven ;  with  perhaps  a  few  straggling 
bushes  scattered  near  the  base,  but  more  com- 
monly the  purple  heather  or  yellow  broom  is  all 
that  is  found  on  the  scanty  patches  of  earth  which 
here  and  there  cling  to  its  sides.  In  America  the 


HIGHLANDS — FORT  PUTNAM WEST  POINT.    317 

hills  swell  up  in  undulating  curves,  rounded  grace- 
fully off  both  at  the  base  and  the  summit,  and  car- 
peted completely  over  with  dense  forests  of  pine. 
In  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  however,  there 
is  a  partial  intermingling  of  the  Scotish  character ; 
bare  masses  of  rock  project  at  intervals  from  among 
the  thick  foliage,  and  creeping  shrubs  of  various 
kinds  weave  a  net  work  round  them.  The  mel- 
lowing tints  of  Autumn  were  now  spreading  them- 
selves among  the  forest  leaves,  imparting  to  the 
scenery  the  richness  and  variety  which  are  peculiar 
to  the  season,  and  as  our  steam  boat  ploughed  its 
way  along,  the  eye  feasted  itself  on  the  ever-varying 
landscape,  or  rested  on  the  brilliant  reflection  in 
the  placid  mirror  below. 

The  ramparts  of  Fort  Putnam  now  opened  to 
our  view  on  the  left,  perched  upon  a  natural  plat- 
form about  two  thirds  up  the  ridge.  Events  of 
tragical  interest,  in  the  history  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  identify  themselves  with  this  fortress — events 
which  I  feel  no  interest  in  recalling,  but  which  can 
never  be  forgotten  while  the  name  of  Andre  sur- 
vives. Beyond  Fort  Putnam,  on  another  elevated 
flat  of  considerable  extent,  stands  the  Military 
Academy  of  West  Point,9  containing  250  cadets. 

*  Geoffrey  Crayon  once  more — here  came  down  the  fearful  flaw  of 
wind  from  the  mountains,  which  threw  the  sloop  on  her  beam  ends 
in  which  Dolph  Heyliger  took  liis  passage  for  Albany,  and  knocked 
the  vagrant  dog  into  the  water.  On  the  left  hand  shore  took  place 
his  perilous  adventure  with  the  rattlesnake,  his  narrow  escape  from 
Dd3 


318  LETTER  XI. — RIVER  HUDSON. 

Tliis  institution  was  established  by  the  general 
government  a  considerable  time  ago,  but  since  last 
war  it  has  been  fostered,  with  assiduous  care,  and 
now  the  tactics  of  Napoleon's  school  are  taught  in 
it  by  men  who  discharged  similar  offices  in  the 
polytechnic  schools  of  France.  A  bare  rock  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river  serves  the  young  sol- 
diers as  a  target,  and  its  battered  brow  bears  token 
of  their  proficiency. 

Nearly  opposite  to  West  Point  is  the  Sugar  Loaf 
mountain,  conspicuous  by  its  regularly  conical  out- 
line, and  among  a  numerous  succession  of  others 
are  the  Crow's  Nest,  Butter  Hill, 10  and  New 

the  bullet  of  the  Heer  Antony  Vander  Heyden,  and  his  subsequent 
merry  carousal  with  that  jolly  rover  and^  his  Indians.  See  the 
second  volume  of  Bracebridge  Hall. 

10  A  large  rock  which  once  crowned  the  summit  of  Butter  hill, 
1520  feet  above  tide  water,  now  reposes  on  a  sand  bank  in  the 
bed  of  the  river  nearly  opposite  West  Point,  far  enough  from  the 
shore  for  vessels  to  sail  round  it.  An  account  of  its  transition  from 
its  former  to  its  present  resting  place  is  thus  given  by  Colonel 
Tucker,  an  officer  who  assisted  in  its  removal. 

"  This  famous  rock,  originally  a  native  of  the  Highlands 
above  West  Point,  was  situated  on  the  extreme  height  of  Butter 
hill;  when  the  morning  fog  was  descending  from  the  hill  it 
had  a  very  beautiful  appearance,  not  much  unlike  a  horseman's 
tent,  or  hospital  marquee  riding  on  the  cloud.  It  was  a  common 
,  amusement  for  the  officers  when  off  duty  to  roll  large  rocks  from 
the  sides  of  those  hills.  These  often  set  others  going  with  them, 
to  the  great  terror  of  those  persons  who  were  below.  One  day 
when  this  laborious  amusement  was  over,  Colonel  Rufus  Putnam 
(in  whose  regiment  I  served  as  Lieutenant,)  proposed  going  up  to 
take  a  peep  of  tliis  curiously  situated  rock ;  it  was  found  situated 


ANTHONY'S  NOSE.  319 

Beacon.  Anthony's  Nose  tosses  high  on  the  right 
a  bare  peak  of  granite,  and  holds  its  name  in  vir- 
tue of  the  real  or  fancied  appearance  of  its  beetling 
top. 

The  sun  began  to  decline  in  its  path  as  we  ap- 
proached the  northern  outposts  of  the  Highlands. 
The  hills  still  rose  on  each  side,  like  a  mighty  ram- 
part guarding  the  more  fertile  country,  but  we  could 
descry  before  us  the  opening  prospect  of  an  exten- 
sive and  diversified  plain.  The  gigantic  shadows 
of  j;he  towering  steeps  were  now  stretching  across 
the  water,  and  gradually  rising  above  our  heads. 
We  watched  them  climbing  up  the  sides  of  the 

on  a  flat  rock  of  great  extent  and  near  the  brink  of  a  considerable 
precipice,  and  hanging  very  much  over  it.  Colonel  P.  believed 
that  it  was  moveable,  and  if  once  moved  would  roll  over ;  and 
falling  from  20  to  50  feet,  commence  its  route  to  the  river.  A  few 
days  after,  in  the  month  of  June,  1778,  we  fonned  a  party  of 
officers,  with  our  servants,  who  took  with  them  axes,  drag  ropes, 
&c.  in  order  to  procure  levers  for  the  purpose  of  moving  the  rock, 
which  we  soon  found  was  in  our  power.  The  levers  being  fixed 
with  ropes  to  the  ends  of  them  all,  Colonel  Putnam  who  headed 
the  party,  ordered  us  to  haul  the  ropes  tight,  and  at  the  word  CON- 
GRESS, to  give  a  long  pull,  a  strong  pull,  and  a  pull  altogether. 
This  we  did;  the  levers  fell,  the  rock  rolled  over,  tumbled  from 
the  precipice,  and  took  up  its  line  of  march  for  the  river  !  The 
party  then  had  die  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  most  majestic  oaks  and 
loftiest  pines  bowing  down  in  homage  and  obedience  to  this  mighty 
traveller,  which  never  stopped  till  it  reached  the  bed  of  the  river, 
where  it  now  lies.  This  party  followed  after  in  its  path  and  were 
astonished  to  see  that  rocks  of  many  tons  weight  and  trees  of  the 
largest  size  were  ground  to  powder.  On  arriving  at  the  river  the 
party  embarked,  and  landed  to  the  number  of  sixty  or  seventy  on 


320  LETTER  XT. — RIVER  HUDSON. 

opposite  mountains,  rock  and  tree  one  after 
another  dropping  into  obscurity,  till  at  last  the 
parting  sunbeams  overshot  the  last  woody  sum- 
mit, and  *  left  the  world  to  darkness.'  Very  soon, 
however,  a  bright  harvest  moon  rose  in  the  even- 
ing sky,  and  under  her  peaceful  light  we  emerged 
from  the  mountainous  region,  and  sped  pleas- 
antly onwards  surrounded  by  the  more  fruitful 
plain. 

During  the  night  we  passed  on  our  left  the 
Kaatskill  mountains,  n  about  3000  feet  high,  which 
we  had  seen  at  a  distance  the  evening  before ;  we 
passed  also  many  of  the  populous  little  towns 
which  teem  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson. 
When  I  went  on  deck  next  morning,  a  cold 
heavy  fog  rested  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  so 
dense  that  even  the  banks  of  the  river  were  in  a 
great  measure  obscured.  About  nine  o'clock  we 
reached  Albany,  and  were  soon  moored  in  safety 
at  the  wharf. 

the  rock,  where  Colonel  Putnam  broke  a  bottle  of  whisky,  and 
named  it  '  Putnam's  Rock.'  "  American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol. 
V.  p.  37. 

u  u  Whoever  has  made  a  voyage  upon  the  Hudson  must  remember 
the  Kaatskill  mountains;  they  are  a  dismembered  branch  of  the 
great  Appalacliian  family,  and  are  seen  away  to  the  west  of  the 
river,  swelling  up  to  a  noble  height  and  lording  it  over  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Every  change  of  season,  every  change  of  wea- 
ther, indeed  every  hour  of  the  day,  produces  some  change  on  the 
magical  hues  and  shapes  of  these  mountains,  and  they  are  regarded 
by  all  the  good  wives  far  and  near  as  perfect  barometers.  When 
the  weather  is  fair  and  settled  they  are  clothed  in  blue  and  purple, 


JEALOUSY  OF  LARGE  CITIES.  321 

Albany  though  a  small  town  in  comparison  of 
New  York,  has  been  for  a  long  time  the  seat  of 
the  State  legislature.  It  seems  a  remarkable  fea- 
ture in  the  domestic  politics  of  America,  that  both 
the  Supreme  and  State  Governments  select  re- 
mote towns,  or  more  properly  speaking  villages, 
as  the  scene  of  their  legislative  labours,  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  populous  cities  upon  the  sea  coast; 
notwithstanding  the  many  inconveniences  which 
must  necessarily  result  from  being  thus  in  a  man- 
ner excluded  from  the  living  world,  from  access  to 
recent  intelligence,  and  from  means  of  ascertaining 
the  minds  of  their  more  intelligent  fellow  citizens 
in  sudden  and  difficult  emergencies.  We  have  an 
annoyance  at  home  somewhat  similar  tin  kind,  al- 
though much  smaller  in  degree,  in  those  parts  of 
the  country  where  some  old  decayed  borough 
tenaciously  maintains  its  dignity  as  county  town, 
taking  precedence  of  the  younger  commercial  or 
manufacturing  cities,  which  have  greatly  outgrown 

and  print  their  bold  outlines  on  the  clear  evening  sky ;  but  some- 
times when  the  rest  of  the  landscape  is  cloudless,  they  will  gather 
a  hood  of  gray  vapours  about  their  summits,  which  in  the  last  rays 
of  the  setting  sun,  will  glow  and  light  up  like  a  crown  of  glory." 
The  reader  must  have  recognized  the  introduction  to  Rip  Van 
Winkle.  The  author  has  often  regretted  that  the  Sketch  Book 
did  not  appear  until  after  his  return  to  his  native  country ;  he 
would  otherwise  have  gathered  more  information  respecting  the 
scenery  which  it  has  immortalized,  and  among  the  rest,  about 
the  Kaatskill  mountains,  which  on  two  other  occasions  he  passed  in 
good  day  light,  without  anticipating  that  they  were  so  soon  to 
acquire  celebrity  from  the  eventful  story  to  which  he  has  alluded. 


322  LETTER  XI. — ALBANY. 

it  in  wealth  and  population,  but  with  us  this  is  an 
unwished-for  consequence  of  the  gradual  change 
which  manufactures  and  commerce  have  produced 
in  the  country,  and  is  an  evil  which  we  tolerate  be- 
cause it  is  not  very  easily  removed.  In  America 
on  the  other  hand  it  is  a  matter  of  deliberate  and 
voluntary  choice,  resulting  from  the  republican 
constitution  and  the  prevalent  system  of  universal 
suffrage.  A  jealousy  exists  throughout  the  agri- 
cultural districts  of  the  influence  of  the  larger 
cities,  and  no  sooner  do  they  begin  to  concentrate 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  wealth  and  talent  of 
the  State,  than  the  landholders  take  the  alarm  and 
vote  the  legislature  away,  some  hundred  or  two 
of  miles  into  the  interior.  In  this  way  the  Legis- 
lature of  Pennsylvania  was  sent  from  Philadelphia 
to  Lancaster,  a  small  town  sixty-two  miles  off, 
containing  about  six  thousand  inhabitants;  and 
subsequently  to  Harrisburgh,  thirty-five  miles  far- 
ther, with  only  between  two  and  three  thousand. 
It  may  thus  travel  onward  till  it  is  ultimately 
stopped  by  the  State  of  Ohio,  or  the  shores  of 
Lake  Erie;  and  for  the  capital  of  New  York,  it 
may  be  necessary  hereafter  to  search  somewhere 
about  the  falls  of  Niagara,  or  the  lake  of  a  Thou- 
sand Isles. 

Albany  was  an  early  Dutch  settlement  and  the 
streets  are  filled  with  Dutch  names,  of  most  diffi- 
cult and  cacophonous  utterance.  The  town  con- 
sisted originally  of  a  single  street,  skirting  the  bank 


STREETS  AND  BUILDINGS.  323 

of  the  river,  which  takes  a  slight  bend  here;  but 
it  subsequently  extended  backwards  very  consider- 
ably, and  some  of  the  recent  streets  towards  the 
north  are  spacious  and  well  built,  and  as  usual 
lined  with  poplars.  In  many  places  there  is  a 
singular  mixture  of  poverty  and  splendour.  A 
number  of  the  old  Dutch  erections  are  still  stand- 
ing ;  small  houses  of  red  and  yellow  bricks,  with 
the  gable  end  to  the  street,  having  a  door  and 
window  in  the  ground  floor,  a  single  window  in 
the  next,  and  above  it  the  year  of  their  erection 
embossed  upon  the  surface  in  huge  iron  figures, 
and  the  whole  surmounted  with  an  iron  weather- 
cock rusted  upon  the  rod.  There  is  an  air  of 
antiquity  about  these  buildings,  which  is  interesting 
in  a  country  where  antiquity  is  so  rare.  The 
modern  erections  exhibit  the  same  tasteful  style 
which  prevails  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
Two  or  three  of  the  public  buildings  are  of  white 
marble ;  one  of  them  is  surmounted  with  a  very 
neat  dome,  but  in  another  the  effect  of  the  marble 
wall  is  sadly  disfigured  by  the  untasteful  addition 
of  a  red  tiled  roof.  The  Capitol,  or  State  House 
has  rather  a  neat  portico,  and  a  dome  surmounted 
with  a  statue  of  Justice;  it  stands  at  the  upper 
end  of  a  very  steep  but  wide  street,  running  at 
right  angles  to  the  river.  Near  the  Capitol  is  a 
very  neat  Academy  with  two  wings,  built  of  red- 
dish coloured  freestone. 

Albany,    notwithstanding    its    commercial    and 


324  LETTER  XI. ALBANY. 

legislative  advantages,  does  not  contain  above 
twelve  or  thirteen  thousand  inhabitants ;  the  pro- 
bability is,  however,  that  a  great  increase  of  wealth 
and  population  will  take  place,  when  the  great 
western  canal  is  completed,  which  is  to  connect 
Lake  Erie  with  the  Hudson,  joining  the  latter  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  this  city.1''* 

18  In  this  stupendous  undertaking  New  York  has,  to  use  the 
words  of  the  North  American  Review,  "  shown  a  spirit  of  enter- 
prize,  and  set  an  example,  which  are  above  all  praise.  The  great 
canal  of  the  Lakes  is  an  undertaking  of  which  the  most  powerful 
government  on  earth  might  be  proud.  It  is  not  more  a  glory  to  the 
State  than  an  honour  to  the  country.  The  canal  of  Languedoc, 
which  has  long  been  the  boast  of  France,  and  perhaps  we  may  say 
of  Europe,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  this." 

The  western  canal  which  was  begun  in  1817,  and  is  now  navi- 
gable for  two-thirds  of  its  whole  length,  commences  at  Black 
Rock  at  the  bottom  of  Lake  Erie,  runs  parallel  to  the  river  Nia- 
gara till  it  joins  the  Tonawanta  creek,  makes  use  of  its  bed  for 
eleven  miles  and  then  stretches  along,  with  but  little  deviation  from 
a  straight  line,  till  it  approaches  the  Mohawk  river,  at  a  small  town 
called  Rome,  a  few  miles  above  Utica;  thence  it  runs  parallel  to 
the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk,  till  it  joins  the  Hudson  near  Albany. 
Its  whole  length  will  be  363  miles,  and  the  country  through  which  it 
passes  is  singularly  adapted  for  canal  navigation.  After  leaving 
Lake  Erie  it  rises  by  locks  48  feet,  to  the  summit  level,  and 
thence  descends  at  intervals  601  feet,  to  the  level  of  the  Hudson. 
In  the  whole  extent  there  are  77  locks.  Two  levels  extend  severally 
65  miles  and  69^  miles,  without  locks,  and  between  two  points  240 
miles  apart  there  was  not,  it  is  said,  a  single  yard  of  rock  which 
it  was  necessary  to  remove.  Connected  with  this  astonishing  under- 
taking, is  a  corresponding  branch  beginning  at  Waterford  on  the 
Hudson,  eleven  miles  above  Albany,  and  running  northward  to 
Whitehall,  formerly  called  Skenesborough,  at  the  bottom  of  Lake 
Champlain.  A  glance  at  a  map  of  the  United  States  will  at  once 


GEEAT  CANAL — FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  325 

lu  Albany  is  found  a  singular  vestige  of  the 
feudal  system,  probably  the  only  one  that  exists  in 
the  United  States.  A  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
Van  Rennselaer  is  Superior,  or  '  Patroon'  as  he  is 
called,  of  the  city  and  a  great  part  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  His  sway  extends  over  a  surface 

show  what  an  enormous  extent  of  inland  trade  is  thus  laid  open 
to  the  city  of  New  York.  The  Champlain  canal  is  61  miles  long  ; 
the  whole  length  therefore  of  the  two  will  be  424-  miles.  Each 
canal  is  40  feet  wide  at  the  surface,  28  at  the  bottom,  and  4  feet 
deep  ;  the  locks  are  90  feet  long,  and  14  feet  broad.  The  estimated 
expense  of  the  Erie  canal  was  five  millions  of  dollars,  and  of  the 
other,  one  million  ;  in  all  £1,350,000  sterling  ;  but  by  an  unusual 
result  in  such  undertakings,  it  is  ascertained,  from  what  is  already 
finished,  that  they  will  be  completed  for  probably  £200,000  less. 
The  literary  journal  to  wliich  I  have  already  alluded  says  that  the 
average  cost  of  the  Erie  canal  per  mile,  is  13,800  dollars,  £3105 
sterling,  while  the  cost  of  canals  in  England  has  generally  been 
about  £5060  sterling,  per  mile,  notwithstanding  of  the  difference 
in  the  price  of  labour. 

The  Commissioners  for  completing  these  canals,  in  their  Report 
to  the  legislature  of  the  State  presented  24th  February  1823, 
which  is  now  before  me,  state  that  boats  have  actually  passed  upon 
the  Erie  canal  for  a  distance  of  more  than  220  miles,  and  upon  the 
Champlain  canal  throughout  its  whole  extent,  from  Whitehall  to 
Waterford.  They  do  not  anticipate  the  final  completion  of  the 
works  on  the  Erie  canal  till  1824,  but  they  expect  that  by  June 
1823,  it  will  be  navigable  throughout,  from  Rochester  near  the 
upper  end,  to  Schenectady  fourteen  miles  from  Albany,  and 
that  by  November  boats  may  pass  completely  through  into  the 
Hudson.  From  the  portion  which  was  completed  in  1821,  they 
had  anticipated  a  revenue  in  1822  of  about  40,000  dollars,  but  on 
making  up  the  accounts  it  amounted  to  no  less  than  60,446  dollars, 
£13,600  sterling,  while  the  whole  expense  of  collection,  attend- 
ance, and  repairs,  on  the  same  portion,  was  but  little  above  £1800. 
VOT-.  f.  E  P 


326  LETTER   XI. — -ALBANY. 

about  sixty  miles  in  length,  including  two  counties 
and  a  population  of  sixty  or  seventy  thousand,  of 
which  about  five  thousand  are  his  tenants.  Re- 
port says  that  he  is  worth  seven  millions  of  dollars ; 
upwards  of  a  million  and  a  half  sterling.  He  is  said 
to  possess  here  a  political  influence  very  similar  to 

On  the  Champlain  canal,  during  the  same  period,  the  receipts  had 
been  3,625  dollars,   £815  sterling;   giving  a  total  from  the  two 
canals  of  £14,415.      Among  the  multitude  of  articles  which  passed 
on  the  Erie  canal,  were,  184,522  barrels  of  flour,  17,665  barrels  of 
salt,    9,495  barrels   of  provisions,  4,872  barrels  of  ashes,  93,174 
bushels  of  wheat,  46,822  bushels  of  water  lime ;   the  total  weight 
merchandize  transported  was  35,444  tons.     The  market  price  of  wheat 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  State  had  been  raised  fifty  per  cent.,  solely 
by  the  facility  of  transportation  which  had  been  already  afforded. 
The  contemplation  of  this  astonishing  canal,   leaves  us  at  a  loss 
whether   most   to   admire  the  felicity  of  the  first  conception,   the 
boldness  of  the  undertaking,  the  skill  and  success   with  which  it 
has  been  carried  into  effect,  or  the  almost  boundless  prospect  of 
commercial    productiveness  which  it  opens   to    view.       To   whom 
the  merit  of  first  projecting  the  work  belongs,  has  now  become  a 
matter  of  animated  controversy  in  America,  but  from  the  statements 
of  various  claimants,  as  noticed  in  the  North  American  Review,  it 
seems  probable  that  no  one  individual  is  entitled  to  this  honour ;  the 
proposals  by  two  or  three  persons  of  water  communications  through 
portions  of  that  district,  resulted  at  last  in  the  magnificent  idea  of  one 
great  canal,  and  Mr.  De  Witt  Clinton,  then  governor  of  the  State, 
was  undoubtedly  the  most  efficient  instrument  of  promoting  the  un- 
dertaking.    The  legislature  of  New  York  by  undertaking  a  work  on 
their  own  responsibility  to  cost  more  than  a  million  sterling,  while 
the  State  revenue  was  under  £  140,000,  the  annual  expenditure  very 
nearly  as  much,  and  the  population  no  more  than  959,220  persons—- 
carrying forward  the  work  with  such  vigour  that  there  is  every  cer- 
tainty of  its  being  finished  within  seven  years  from  its  commence- 
ment—have shown  what  LIBERTY  is,  and   what  free  institutions  can 
4 


FEUDAL   SYSTEM.  327 

that  of  the  great  landed  proprietors  at  home ;  he 
does  not  indeed  now  interfere  with  politics,  but  he 
can  if  he  so  chooses  command  a  great  number  of 
votes.  This,  however  much  some  may  deprecate 
the  result,  is  the  natural  influence  of  property  in 
a  representative  government,  and  more  especially 

do,  to  stimulate  the  enterprise  and  strengthen  the  energies  of  man- 
kind. Of  the  ultimate  effects  of  this  canal,  and  the  spirit  for  such 
undertakings  which  it  has  diffused  throughout  the  whole  country, 
it  is  impossible  to  form  any  adequate  conception.  The  reviewer 
contemplating  future  improvements,  says,  that  "by an  artificial  navi- 
gation of  sixteen  miles,  the  voyage  from  Buffalo  to  Pittsburgh 
would  be  uninterrupted.  The  communications  between  the  Ohio 
and  lake  Erie,  are  numerous  and  not  difficult.  A  short  cut 
would  join  the  M uskingum,  which  discharges  itself  a  hundred  and 
seventy  miles  below  Pittsburgh,  with  the  Cayahoga.  The  junction 
of  the  Scioto  with  the  Sandusky,  and  the  Miami  of  the  Lake,  with 
the  Miami  of  the  Ohio,  is  practicable.  Lakes  Michigan  and  Erie 
may  unite  their  waters  by  means  of  the  river  Raisin,  while  by  the 
Chicago  river  which  runs  into  the  former,  and  a  branch  of  the 
river  Plein,  a  passage  might  be  secured  into  the  Illinois,  and  thence 
into  the  Mississipi.  The  time  must  soon  arrive,  when  that  ex- 
tensive territory  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Great  Lakes,  and  from  the 
Missouri  to  the  borders  of  Pennsylvania,  a  country  fertile  and 
healthful,  inhabited  by  a  race  of  hardy  and  vigorous  men,  capable 
of  supporting  a  population  of  enonnous  magnitude, — a  country  in 
comparison  with  which  the  fairest  kingdom  in  Europe  is  almost 
sterile,  will  hereafter  receive  all  that  may  supply  its  wants  or  add 
to  its  luxuries  through  New  York,  and  will  in  turn  transmit  by  the 
same  channel,  the  rich  fruits  of  an  exuberant  soil,  owned  and 
cultivated  by  a  free  population.— —The  imagination  is  startled  by 
its  own  reveries,  as  it  surveys  the  coasts  of  Erie,  Huron,  and 
Michigan,  and  traverses  the  rich  prairies  of  Indiana,  or  the  gloomy 
forests  of  Ohio.  But  we  firmly  believe  that  these  bright  antici- 
pations will  be  converted  in  to  facts,  and  that  our  country  will 
E  e2 


328  LETTER  XI. — ALBANY. 

§ 

of  landed  property.  An  independent  freeholder, 
however  small  his  patrimonial  inheritance,  may  in 
general  please  himself  as  to  his  vote,  but  a  tenant 
will  in  almost  every  instance  find  it  his  interest  to 
please  his  landlord.  Were  the  pestilent  system  of 
universal  suffrage,  therefore,  introduced  into  Great 
Britain,  it  is  not  in  the  agricultural,  but  in  the  com- 
mercial and  manufacturing  districts  of  the  country, 
that  its  destructive  effects  would  be  first  visible. 
The  landed  proprietor  would  bring  forward  his 
tenants  to  the  poll,  as  easily  as  the  highland  chief- 
tain of  old  mustered  his  clan  for  the  battle,  and 
Knockdunder's  remark  to  old  David  Deans,  respect- 


hereafter  exhibit  an  inland  trade,  unrivalled  for  its  activity,  its 
value,  and  its  extent."  See  an  interesting  article  on  the  New 
York  canals,  in  the  North  American  Review,  No.  XXXIV.  p. 
230. 

There  is  not  a  doubt  that  these  canals  will  also  carry  off  a 
large  amount  of  trade  which  would  otherwise  have  found  its  way 
down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Canada.  When  the  country  on  the 
Canadian  side  of  Erie,  and  the  lakes  above  it,  is  settled,  the 
farmers  will  find  a  much  nearer  market  for  their  grain  by  the 
smooth  navigation  of  the  canal,  than  by  the  portage  at  the  Falls  of 
Niagara,  and  down  the  furious  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  besides 
gaining  nearly  two  months  in  the  year  of  those  which  they  now 
lose  by  the  ice,  The  Champlain  canal  has  already  begun  to  bring 
down  to  New  York  a  lucrative  trade,  from  the  banks  of  that  lake, 
which  heretofore  went  northward  to  Montreal.  In  fact  much  of  the 
moral  and  political,  as  well  as  commercial  aspect  of  this  vast  con- 
tinent, will,  in  the  course  probably  of  a  few  years,  undergo  a  very 
great  revolution.  The  Erie  canal  has  done  more  to  endanger  to 
the  British  crown  the  loss  of  Upper  Canada,  than  all  that  warlike 
operations  could  ever  have  effected. 


HOT  WEATHER — EVENING  LIGHTNING.        329 

« 

ing  the  call  of  the  congregation  to  Mr.  Butler, 
would  exactly  apply — "  I  pelieve  the  best  end  of  it 
was,  '  Long  live  M'Callummore  and  Knockdunder.' 
— And  as  to  its  being  a  unanimous  call,  I  would  pe 
glad  to  ken  fat  business  the  carles  have  to  call  ony 
thing  or  ony  body  but  what  the  Duke  and  mysell 
likes."  The  Patroon's  residence  is  in  a  pleasant 
situation  a  little  to  the  northward  of  the  city. 

Albany,  although  not  reputed  unhealthy,  is  in  the 
summer  months  a  very  warm  and  uncomfortable  re- 
sidence. While  1  was  here  for  a  few  days  in  the 
latter  end  of  June,  the  thermometer  ranged  from 
85°  to  92°,  and  on  sabbath  several  persons  took 
off  their  coats  in  church.13  In  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  there  was  a  great  deal  of  lightning  in 
the  west  and  north  west.  This  brilliant  phenomenon 
is  exceedingly  common  in  America,  but  I  never  saw 
it  so  abundant  or  so  vivid  as  on  this  occasion. 
The  horizon  was  overspread  with  thickly  gathered 
clouds,  undefined  and  obscure  in  the  intervals  be- 
tween the  flashes,  but  instantly  and  powerfully 
lighted  up,  and  the  figure  and  density  of  every 
rolling  mass  exhibited  in  the  most  beautiful  grada- 
tions of  shade  and  colour.  The  arrowy  streams  of 
electric  fluid  darted  along  with  very  little  intermis- 

13  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  is  a  customary  practice  in 
America ;  I  never  met  with  it  elsewhere  but  on  one  occasion  at  Bos- 
ton when  the  thermometer  was  about  95°.  When  I  mentioned  the 
circumstance  in  New  York  my  friends  assured  me  that  they  had 
never  before  heard  of  such  an  occurrence. 
Ee3 


330  LETTER  XI.— ALBANY. 

•• 

sion  till  after  midnight,  sometimes  descending  to- 
wards the  earth,  more  frequently  shooting  upwards 
to  the  heavens,  and  again  across  the  sky  from  one 
mountain  of  clouds  to  another.  At  one  time  the 
storm  seemed  to  approach  us,  'if  storm  it  could  be 
called ;  a  few  heavy  drops  of  rain  fell,  and  I  heard 
the  deep  toned  murmuring  of  the  distant  thunder. 
I  lay  in  bed  with  the  window  open,  gazing  at  the 
splendid  scene  till  midnight,  after  which  it  gradually 
died  away.  There  is  seldom  a  fine  summer  even- 
ing, in  this  country,  without  less  or  more  lightning. 
There  is  a  fall  of  some  celebrity  on  the  Mohawk 
river,  called  the  Cohoes.  The  Mohawk  has  its 
source  near  the  Oneyda  lake,  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
State,  and  flowing  from  west  to  east,  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  the  Hudson,  unites  with  it  nine  or  ten 
miles  above  Albany.  The  Cohoes  fall  is  between 
two  and  three  miles  from  their  junction ;  it  is 
seventy  feet  high,  and  according  to  Weld  about 
three  hundred  yards  broad.  The  banks  below  the 
fall  are  quite  precipitous  and  are  chiefly  composed 
of  slate  rock  and  limestone.  The  precipice  over 
which  the  water  descends  crosses  the  channel  at 
right  angles  to  the  banks,  not  unlike  an  immense 
dam  dyke,  and  the  brow  of  it  is  as  steep  and  nearly 
as  smooth  as  the  Palisades  near  New  York.  There 
was  not  nearly  enough  of  water,  when  I  visited  it, 
to  cover  the  rock,  but  while  it  rushed  in  pretty 
copious  streams  over  some  parts  of  it,  others  were 
left  quite  dry.  This  circumstance  and  the  great 


COHOES  FALL.  331 

breadth  of  the  fall,  in  proportion  to  its  height,  ma- 
terially weaken  the  effect,  and  altogether  my  ex- 
pectations were  somewhat  disappointed.  At  the 
deepest  part  of  the  stream  however  the  water  broke 
into  foam  at  the  verge,  and  a  cloud  of  light  spray 
rose  gracefully  over  it,  in  which  the  prismatic 
colours  went  and  came.  In  returning  I  crossed  the 
Mohawk  a  short  way  below,  by  a  wooden  bridge, 
from  the  centre  of  which  there  is  a  finer  view  of  the 
cascatle,  than  can  be  obtained  close  by  it. 

Passing  through  the  village  of  Waterford,  I 
crossed  the  Hudson  by  another  wooden  bridge  and 
went  through  Lansingburgh  and  Troy.  At  Lan- 
singburgh,  nine  miles  above  Albany,  terminates 
the  sloop  navigation  of  the  Hudson.  This  was  for 
some  time  a  thriving  town,  but  is  now  on  the  de- 
cline, in  consequence  of  sand  having  accumulated 
in  the  bed  of  the  river,  which  obstructs  the  passage 
of  sloops.  '  Jetties'  have  been  built  at  various  places 
to  reduce  the  bank,  but  hitherto  without  adequate  ef- 
fect. Troy  is  nearly  three  miles  below,  and  seems 
to  increase  in  population  and  wealth  as  its  neighbour 
falls  off.  One  bank  was  formerly  sufficient  for  the 
commercial  transactions  of  both  towns,  now  Lan- 
singburgh has  one,  and  Troy  two.  I  crossed  from 
Troy  in  a  ferry  boat ;  and  in  returning  to  Albany, 
passed  by  the  way  two  Government  magazines. 

There  are  in  Albany  eleven  places  of  worship,14 

14  These  are,  3  Presbyterian,  2  Dutch  Reformed,  1  Dutch  Lutheran, 
1  Baptist,  1  Episcopalian,  1  Methodist,  1  Quaker,  and  1  Romish. 


332  LETTER  XI. — RIVER  HUDSON. 

and  two  Sabbath  schools  were  instituted  about 
a  year  and  a  half  ago.  I  have  spent  only  one 
Sabbath  in  Albany.  In  the  forenoon  1  heard  a 
communion  sermon  in  one  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches,  from  the  words,  '  Christ  our  Passover  is 
sacrificed  for  us.'  The  discourse  was  judicious 
and  strictly  evangelical ;  the  speaker's  manner  ani- 
mated and  interesting.  After  finishing  his  dis- 
course, he  came  down  from  the  pulpit  and  presided 
at  the  communion  table,  according  to  the  custom- 
ary form  in  Presbyterian  churches.  His  auditory 
was  numerous  and  attentive.  In  the  afternoon  I 
heard  an  Episcopalian  minister,  from  the  passage, 
'  The  sting  of  death  is  sin.'  Though  by  no  means 
a  very  eloquent  discourse,  it  contained  an  explicit 
statement  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  the  ina- 
bility of  man  to  effect  his  own  deliverance,  the 
perfection  of  Christ's  atonement,  and  salvation 
through  belief  of  the  truth,  and  renewal  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  In  the  evening  I  heard  another  min- 
ister in  the  same  church,  but  his  discourse  was 
confused  and  inaccurate. 

I  had  occasion  to  remark  in  the  churches  of  Al- 
bany, as  well  as  every  where  else  in  this  country, 
the  jealous  separation  which  takes  place  on  all  oc- 
casions between  the  whites  and  the  blacks.  None 
in  whom  a  tinge  is  detected  of  African  blood  are 
permitted  to  mingle  with  white  men  ;  they  are  all 
restricted  to  pews  in  the  farther  end  of  the  gallery, 
conspicuously  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  congiega- 


CHURCHES.  333 

tion.  How  reprehensible  is  such  a  scene,  in  the 
house  and  presence  of  Him  who  hath  said,  '  Look 
not  on  his  countenance — for  the  Lord  seeth  not  as 
man  seeth ;  for  man  looketh  on  the  outward  ap- 
pearance, but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart.' 
But,  alas  ! 

"  He  finds  his  brother  guilty— of  a  skin 
Not  coloured  like  his  own !" 

and  even  in  the  worship  of  the  Most  High  he  must 
manifest  his  horror  at  such  an  enormity. 


END  OF  VOLUME  FIRST. 


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